Stockport County vs Leyton Orient early injury news as 3 ruled out and 1 doubt for play-off semi-final

Leyton Orient are now preparing for their League One play-off semi-final second leg with Stockport County after an entertaining first leg draw. Charlie Kelman scored twice to secure the draw, but his first goal has sparked plenty of debate, dominating the talking points from the first leg.

Kelman was a couple of yards offside when he received the ball inside the box and slotted home, but the goal stood, leading to outrage from Stockport boss Dave Challinor. He said: “Massive kudos to our players for reacting in a positive way to a decision which was the worst I’ve seen in my 15 years of management in what was the biggest game of my managerial career.

“I’ve not spoken to the referee or linesman as of yet but the processes are all completely wrong. That was an absolute shocker. When someone is four yards offside that’s really worrying. I can understand now why there is a scramble to get robots involved and stop human error because incidents like today cannot happen. People are putting tens of millions of pounds into football and things can be dictated by a flag and a whistle and that’s not a good place to be.”

Orient boss, Richie Wellens, to his credit, said after the game: “People have told me it is offside – and if he is offside, just give it offside. We would rather get a genuine goal. I’ve said it all season that the referees have a huge impact on games at this level. I believe we should have had another penalty, too.”

At this point, the goal stands, and so does the first leg draw, setting up an intriguing second leg at Edgeley Park on Wednesday night. Ahead of the game, we have rounded up the early injury news surrounding both teams.

Ben Hinchliffe - Doubt

Hinchcliffe has been battling to make the end of the season having suffered a longer term issue in March. Dave Challinor said at the time: “Ben’s looked a serious one. Although he could walk off the pitch it didn’t look great and that was confirmed in the scan – he tore the abductor muscle off the bone. He had successful surgery yesterday down in London, travels back up today. He also had a hernia that was ongoing, that he probably would have had repaired in the Summer, so there was an opportunity to get that done as well.

“Recovery time – the surgeon, pre-surgery, had said eight-ten weeks. I imagine it will be a little bit longer than that; if it’s 12 weeks then that would be a success. Ben’s obviously going to be really motivated to get back a little bit quicker than that, but time will tell.”

He was absent for the first leg and will remain a doubt.

Macauley Southam-Hales - Out

Southam-Hales has been ruled out for at least a year after suffering perhaps the worst injury in football, a ruptured patella tendon. Challinor said at the time: “He’s been in and around the place, as you’d expect he’s upset. But this is a good environment for him and we’ll all get around him, players, staff and supporters included, and make sure that he has the opportunity to come back better and stronger than he is currently. But it’s a long road ahead and he’ll need lots of support.”

Connor Jennings - Out

Jennings is out for the season with a shoulder issue that required surgery.

Dan Happe - Out

Happe will miss the rest of the season through injury. Wellens said in April: "Dan felt something pop with the last kick of the game against Wigan and he's done for the season. It's something we need to improve on. Dan is a top centre-half, I wouldn't swap him for many centre-halves in this league, but we can't keep him fit."

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