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Wellens unhappy with Harborough approach

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens accused non-league opposition Harborough Town of "below the belt" tackles after his side's 5-1 victory in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Wellens felt referee Alan Young had given the National League North side "one or two free ones", in terms of free-kicks not being given, and Orient players had suffered knocks as a result.

"The only downside is we might have a couple of injuries because some of the tackles were below the belt," Wellens told BBC Radio London.

"The referee let the first two go, so then they think it's a precedent that they can have one free each.

"Their manager is saying 'you're professional and we're non-league' - that doesn't mean that I can't protect the players from tackles that I believe are high [and] a bit reckless.

"Again, I think the referee set a precedent where he gave them one or two free ones. For the last 20 minutes, I'm thinking 'just get my players off the pitch in one piece, get through to the next round and we move on'.

"You look at the size of their team, it's like land of the giants, and when they made subs, they didn't get smaller, they got bigger.

"Set plays were their only threat, really. I don't think they were ever going to score from open play. But they stuck in there, they tried their very best."

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