BARNSLEY could equal a club record with a sixth successive away win tomorrow but Neill Collins is more focused on making history at the end of the season.
The Reds, who are third in League One with 22 points from 12 games, have not played for two weeks after last Saturday’s game with Bolton Wanderers was cancelled due to international call-ups for the Lancashire club.
Barnsley have won their last five away games so a victory at Leyton Orient would equal a club record of six set by Valerien Ismael’s Championship side in 2021. They have the most away points in the top four divisions of English football with 16 from six games this season.
Only Premier League Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than the Reds’ two let in away.
Collins told the Chronicle: “Winning six in a row away would be a huge achievement but the bigger goal of finishing as high as we can in the league is what we really focus on.
“These little things are nice and it means we are trending in the right direction and that we are getting a lot of points.
“We certainly want to make some history but probably for different reasons.
“When you are breaking some small records, it means you are doing something right.
“Hopefully we break a few more records this season.”
He added: “We take every away game as it comes.
“We have had a lot of tight away games and we don’t expect much different this time. Hopefully we can use our quality and organisation.”
The tickets for the Brisbane Road away end sold out last week.
“We have 1,100 fans going which is huge motivation.
“I am sure the away fans will be really pleased with what they have seen.
“We want that to continue but we also know how boisterous their home fans can be so we have to be aware of that and deal with it.
“It’s huge to get that support.
“Exeter away was so pleasing to get the last-minute winner for us but also the fans. We want to make another special memory.”
Orient won League Two last season and are now tenth in League One with 17 points from 12 games.
They took just one point from their first four games, losing the first three, but have since won five out of eight.
They won 1-0 at fellow newly-promoted side Carlisle United on Saturday.
The Os could have had another win but their home game against Lincoln City last month was called off on 84 minutes, with Orient 1-0 up, due to a medical emergency in the crowd and resulting pitch invasion.
Those three points would have put them into the play-off places but the EFL announced this week that the game must be replayed.
They have officially won three of their five home league games this season, including the last two over Shrewsbury Town and Reading, but the other two games have seen them lose 4-0 to Portsmouth and 3-0 to Stevenage.
“This will be a really tough game.
“Every week is tough but, with this one, they are on a good run, full of confidence, used to winning after promotion and the fans will be well behind them.
“I watched them against Carlisle. They are very hard to beat, with a very good manager who plays an attractive style.
“It will be a good game with both sets of fans really up for it.
“It always feels this way, but it will be one of the tougher games we play.”
Orient’s manager Richie Wellens played against Barnsley 19 times as a midfielder for various clubs, mainly Leicester City, but is yet to face them as a manager having been in charge of Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town, Salford City, Doncaster Rovers and now Orient whom he took over last year.
Collins said: “He was a quality football player and his teams replicate that.
“He’s got a fantastic record with promotions and teams who play attractive football.
“That adds to the challenge.”
Orient have attacking midfielder George Moncur who played 78 games for the Reds between 2016 and 2019, scoring eight goals.
After being loaned out to Peterborough within months of arriving, he was relegated from the Championship in his second season at Oakwell then was not a regular in League One under Daniel Stendel before moving in January to Luton Town.
He spent the 2021/22 season at Hull City before moving to Orient and helping them to promotion as top-scorer last season.
Moncur, now 30, got his first goal of the season last week with a last-minute winner over Reading but was an unused substitute in Carlisle.
The two clubs have met 55 times, with the Reds winning 23 and losing 22.
Barnsley are unbeaten in the last four meetings with three wins.
The only season in the last 41 in which they were in the same division was 2014/15 when the Reds won 2-0 at home with goals by Conor Hourihane and Devante Cole, then drew 0-0 in London.
The Os were relegated that season and then dropped into the National League before returning to the third tier.
Barnsley have only won three of their 28 trips to Orient, two in the 1920s before they moved to their current home of Brisbane Road where the Reds triumphed in 1982.
