TOWN boss Mark Cooper thought his side could have completed a ‘fairytale’ comeback against Leyton Orient as they came from 2-0 to earn a draw with only ten men in their final game of the regular season.

Tyrell Belford’s sending off after 20 minutes rocked Town’s approach. Debutant Josh Cooke was withdrawn as Cameron Belford was called upon to save the penalty his brother conceded, which he duly obliged.

The elder Belford could do little about Orient’s opener though, Raphael Branco gifting the ball to Dean Cox, who converted five minutes before half-time.

When Chris Dagnall doubled the visitors' lead just after the break, it looked like Town would head into the play-offs with three defeats in their last five games.

Yet, Town rallied and were given hope by a spectacular free-kick routine, which saw Anton Rodgers flick the ball up and volley past Alex Cisak in the O’s goal.

Town’s equaliser also came from a set-piece, Andy Williams capping a decent display by converting a spot-kick after Sam Ricketts was brought down in the box.

Late on, the ball pinged from end to end and there were chances for both sides.

Coooper was happy enough with the way his team reacted to being two goals adrift and down to ten men and even thought, had it not been for the referee not giving handball when Luke O’Neill fumbled his tackle with Will Randall looking clean through on goal, his side might have got all three points.

“I felt in the second half, once we changed it a little bit, we got a little bit of momentum going,” Cooper told the local media.

“We could have easily won it at the end but there were some ridiculous refereeing decisions.

“Will Randall is clean through and the lad catches it.”

Tyrell Belford’s sending off was a game-changer.

With less on-field options, Town could not keep the ball as effectively and Cooper could not make all the substitutions he wanted to in the second half.

“Obviously, the sending off affected us because we had to take a player off and put another goalkeeper on and play with ten men,” Cooper added.

“It affected us in what we were trying to plan to do in terms of the substitutions we wanted to use.

“That threw us out a little bit in the first half.

“I was mindful of trying to get the intensity up in the last half an hour, trying to urge the boys on and trying to get another one up front – which we did with Will Randall – and get us back in the game to give the fans a bit of positivity to go away with.”