LEYTON ORIENT 0 CITY 0

EIGHT pages of the Leyton Orient programme, including the cover and centre spread, were devoted to Justin Edinburgh.

A post-match dinner raised more money for the foundation set up following his sudden death in June. Six months on and the pain is still raw.

Perspective remains a powerful argument in this corner of East London.

The fatality on the line which delayed any City fans travelling down by train would further underline that fact.

Football is only a game as Gary Bowyer emphasised. There are clearly far, far bigger things in life than a forgettable goalless draw.

But that won’t stop the gnawing frustration.

City moved up a place to fifth with a second clean sheet on the bounce but there were boos at the final whistle from the away contingent.

The overriding sense of disappointment among the 997 away fans – or “plums” as reality TV personality Mark Wright charmingly put it on Twitter – mirrored that from the last away game at Macclesfield.

The annoyance at failing to lay a glove on a team who have not won since October 19 was obvious.

Yes, the back three did such an effective operation in muzzling the hosts that Richard O’Donnell did not have a single shot on target to deal with.

But equally, City could not muster a corner. Their lack of potency sparked an ironic chorus of “we’ve had a shot” in the 83rd minute when James Vaughan eventually forced Sam Sargeant into a good save.

The Orient stopper had earlier denied Aramide Oteh with an outstretched leg but he, too, would have anticipated a far more animated afternoon.

This was the equivalent of the “after midnight” game on Match of the Day. One blink and you miss the few highlights.

Bowyer claimed to have not heard any dissent from the stand when the whistle sounded and we could thankfully make our way back home.

But, as with Macclesfield a fortnight before, he acknowledged that this was another opportunity gone begging.

Of course, in the same way the Moss Rose point got better when followed up by a home win over Newport, Saturday can be improved with a positive result from the club’s first meeting with Salford.

Three of City’s next four games are at Valley Parade – where their record equals the best in the division.

A solid harvest of points from that run to back up Bowyer’s mantra of win at home and draw away and the Bantams will be well in the mix.

It is all about the end result of clambering out of League Two at the first attempt however you do it. If the champagne corks are popping at the end of April, nobody will be casting their minds back to a bleak wintry afternoon in the capital.

But it’s a tough watch right now.

Twenty games in and we are still waiting for City to really turn it on – and yet they are handily placed in the promotion race.

That’s the conundrum for those fans who made the trek south in great number for an underwhelming reward.

The City contingent contented themselves by making their own entertainment – which basically involved giving Josh Wright the bird at every opportunity.

Wright’s public revelations about his treatment at the club may have softened some atttudes. But it did not make for any easier ride when he faced the Bantams for the first time since returning to his southern roots in the summer.

His portrayal as the pantomime villain for those clad in claret and amber saw brother Mark, there to host the evening's charity event, bite back on social media. It was a side-show that arguably provided more entertainment than that dished up on the pitch.

Wright, to be fair, had a reasonable game in an Orient effort no doubt lifted by all the attention towards what would have been Edinburgh’s 50th birthday on Wednesday.

They shed their soft-centred image of late and got stuck in just like their late manager would have asked for.

But Orient were also no doubt encouraged by City’s passive approach.

Once again, the visitors seemed to be playing with the hand brake on rather than looking to slip through the gears against hosts who had lost half of their previous 10 home games.

City’s defensive resilience could not have been faulted. The concentration lapses on their recent travels were thankfully ironed out.

Bodies were bravely thrown in the way; blocks made and tackles won to ensure Orient’s long wait for a win goes on.

But City’s general performance was crying out for a flash of inspiration, some invention, somebody trying something different. Everything was just too predictable.

It had been the obvious call for Bowyer to stick with the same team and game plan that had got them back to winning ways against Newport.

But wingers Zeli Ismail and Dylan Connolly were left unused on the bench when either might have possessed that X Factor to break the stalemate.

At least they could have provided a better supply for Vaughan, who once more found himself feeding off scraps most of the time.

You never sensed that City had enough conviction to really have a go at winning it.

Orient winger Jordan Maguire-Drew had the right idea, playing with the direct approach lacking in the visiting game-plan.

He created the first warning signal by holding off Adam Henley and providing a peach of a cross that Conor Wilkinson nodded against the top of the bar.

Wilkinson would go as close as anyone to piercing through the tedium with another couple of second-half shots that did not miss by much.

City created little until half-time approached when suddenly Oteh fashioned a glorious chance on the break.

Latching on to Connor Wood’s long ball, he got in behind Jamie Turley to burst into the corner of the Orient box.

But with Vaughan unmarked in the middle, Oteh opted to go it alone and was thwarted as Sargeant smartly narrowed the angle.

In a game of few openings, that was a big one blown.

The fact it took 57 minutes for the first corner demonstrated the meagre fare on offer. At least it gave the bored Bantam travellers an opportunity to give the taker Wright both barrels.

Sub Harry Pritchard swept over with a first-time shot set up by Oteh before Orient launched a frenzied assault from another corner.

As City failed to clear their lines, Lee Angola and Craig Clay both saw efforts fearlessly charged down by Kelvin Mellor and Paudie O’Connor.

Ross Embleton, Orient’s interim head coach, also felt they should have had a penalty for Angol being pulled down in the box. Afterwards, he bitterly wished referee Chris Pollard a “sleepless night” for missing it.

This snore-fest sparked briefly back into life at the other end where Vaughan pounced on a loose ball to stretch Sargeant into meaningful action. But deadlock remained and City could have no argument.