Scunthorpe remain one of the main contenders for division 2 honours after a hard earned win over Leyton.
The game never reached any real quality possibly because of the cold biting wind.
Key figures in Scunthorpe's success were 2 players making their home debuts, defender Stevland Angus who looked solid at right back and teenager Andy Keogh who signed this week from Leeds, while Ian Baraclough was a dominating figure in mid-field.
Orient Gaby Zakauni kept a tight reign on Scunthorpe's target man Steve Torpey and skipper Gary Alexander worker very hard but blotted his copy book by seeing straight red in the late stages.
In a very quiet opening 20 minutes neither side mounted what could have been described as a threatening move.
The first real attack cam when Baraclough broke through to fire in a 25 yard left foot shot which whistled over the bar after 19 minutes.
Shortly afterwards Orient almost broke the dead-lock, and agin it was a long range effort, Daryl McMahon cracking in a right foot effort that forced a good one handed save from Paul Musselwhite.
There was little to warm the crowd, Richard Kell might have done better, but he hesitated and fired straight at Lee Harrison, while Paul Hayes rattled the foot of the post in a goal mouth scramble.
Scunthorpe just appeared to have the upper hand and from their first corner in the 42nd minute and Andy Butler headed wide and shortly afterwards the young defender saw Harrisson block another header.
The experienced Peter Beagrie tested Harrisson as the second half got under way, but his shot lacked strength.
Little was being seen of the Orient attack although Tom Youngs got forward strongly on the right and put inside to fire wide and then Hayes forced a good save at the other end.
Scunthorpe had a real escape in the 64th minute.
Gary Alexander opened up the home defence and found he was un-marked in the box, but he fired yards wide.
4 minutes later Scunthorpe went ahead, within 2 minutes of making his debut Andy Keogh collected the ball inside the 18 yard box to volley home a superb left foot shot.
The game was virtually over with 6 minutes left when Orients' skipper Alexander was shown a straight red card after an elbow on Butler.