Debutant Richardson Is Saddle Sore

By Dan King - Newcastle United Communications Officer

Despite a disappointing result for his new team Leyton Orient, Michael Richardson is basking in the feeling of making his Football League debut.

He was a 70th minute substitute for The O's in their opening game of the League One season at Walsall on Saturday, but Russell Slade side lost 1-0 to a stunning first-half goal from Adam Chambers - who had been released by Orient at the end of last season.

Richardson joined the London club on a month's loan from Newcastle on Friday, and went straight into the squad for the Saddlers trip despite only meeting his team-mates a few hours before the game.

But once he'd unpacked his belongings in E10 on Sunday morning, the 19-year-old - who made a handful of appearances on the bench for Alan Pardew last season - caught up with nufc.co.uk to reflect on his competitive bow.

"I drove down to meet the players in a hotel in Walsall and got introduced to them there," he explained. "It's all new - new faces and having to learn new names and remember them all - and then it was straight into preparing for the game.

"The guy who scored used to play for Leyton Orient and he put one right into the top corner from 35 yards!

"But watching the pace of the game for 65 or 70 minutes really helped for when I came on. I could understand how they were going to play; they were going to try and pass the ball.

"They tried to pass it through them and Walsall were playing on the counter all game, so just by watching the first 70 minutes before I came on I was able to understand the tempo of the game.

"When I came on, we were on top. We'd been on top all of the second half, passing it through them a bit better."

Richardson replaced Leon McSweeney with 20 minutes to go, and played in his favoured central midfield position as Orient pushed hard for an equaliser.

"I thought I did alright," he said. "I was getting in gaps and playing off the strikers, and we were linking up and getting on the ball and causing them problems.

"We just didn't quite get that goal we really needed to clinch a draw - or even gain a win because we could have scored a couple of other opportunities.

"I was gambling and pushing up. Another midfielder was sitting so that gave me a licence to push on and try to get the second balls off the centre-forward and link up play."

But although the result took the shine off his big day, Richardson - who was working as a trainee electrician at Newcastle City Council just over a year ago - is proud to have made his league debut and he's already looking forward to Leyton Orient's next game, away to Southend in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

"It's a good feeling to have made my league debut and played in the Football League," he said. "It was good for my experience and it should help me as a player if I can keep learning.

"Hopefully in the next month I can play a lot more minutes in the league and cup games that they've got, get a lot of experience and learn a lot from it.

"The standard's good. They try to pass the ball really well, Leyton Orient. They try to play from the back and pass the ball through the team - not just try to boot it and play off second balls off the time. It's all well thought through - it's a good standard of football and they do try to pass the ball.

"At the minute, I'm here for a month and they've got eight games so hopefully I'll get a lot of minutes on the pitch. It's just good to be playing league football and it's going to help my game a lot, playing against men in League One.

"It's a good league so it can only help my experience and hopefully I can keep pushing on and see what happens after this month."