Leyton Orient coach Paul Terry was staying tight-lipped after Watford loanee Shaq Forde was one of two players sent off in the space of three minutes in last night’s 2-1 EFL Trophy defeat at Gillingham.

The O’s were leading 1-0 when Hornets striker Forde was dismissed by referee Ben Atkinson following an off-the-ball incident, with debutant Brandon Cooper soon following his teammate down the Priestfield tunnel after the official had reached for his red card again.

The hosts made their numerical advantage count, equalising through a Cheye Alexander penalty before an Omar Beckles own goal secured the win.

"It's hard and until we've seen them back again I don't really want to comment," said Terry, who was shown a red card himself along with head coach Richie Wellens after the League One defeat at Wycombe Wanderers.

"I've had a little run-in lately so I don't want to comment too much on them.

"It's disappointing but we'll look at them and then we'll assess it and go from there."

Forde, who has scored once in four appearances since making the season-long move to the League Once club, had gone close in the first half with a shot which was tipped over.

Wellens was handed a two-game touchline ban after contesting his red card, but the assistant head coach confirmed he was shown a yellow card following Forde’s dismissal, along with fellow coach Matt Harrold.

Terry said: “Myself and Matt got a yellow card. Shaq had got sent off, I was holding the ball, I didn’t know what was going on and I got told I held it too long and then Matt got a yellow card as well.

“We’ve got to be more disciplined on the bench and tidy that up from our point of view as well.”