With four straight defeats and 11 goals past them they badly needed some luck but found it too late.
They were down to 10 men when Phil Jevons put City ahead with a lunging header and then a hacked clearance set up Enoch Showunmi for an ice-cool second goal on half-time.
It was a tall order for Martin Ling's men after that despite all their busy movement on and off the ball.
This was a win City needed in the wake of the court scandal which has seen three of their players in jail for a night-club brawl.
They promised to grab it with some style thanks to the eager running of Scott Brown.
David Noble set up the first of their goals with a thoughtful ball past a Orient defence struggling for shape while Adam Tann was off with a head wound.
He soon came back with a big plaster but the damage had been done.
Orient had been having rather more of the ball with a lively Gary Alexander testing Jamie McAllister who was starting his first game in City's back four since his summer move from Luton.
The best move saw Alexander pull away from his marker to find Wayne Corden with an accurate cross-field ball but the resultant driven shot sped just outside the far post.
Showunmi's goal saw the young giant in the right place to capitalise on a defensive error but the finish was certainly a cool one. He picked his spot and placed it accurately using the far post as a marker.
Orient came out strongly in the second half and home keeper Adriano Basso had to pull off a great save to stop a Paul Connor header.
The visitors freshened up their attack and luck finally turned their way when Showunmi handled for Matthew Lockwood to drive home the penalty but it was too little too late.