Mason Burstow kept his cool to end his long goal drought and fire Wanderers up to the third place in League One and the thick of the promotion race, writes Pete Oliver.
Burstow hadn’t scored since early October as he remained stuck on the seven goals that saw him launch the season in style.
But after coming off the bench with Wanderers in need of a winner to record a first home success since Boxing Day and keep the top two in touching distance he grabbed the ball when Steven Schumacher’s men were awarded a last-minute penalty.
It was the first spot-kick the Whites had been awarded this season in the league but Burstow showed no signs of rustiness as the top scorer blasted the ball home in what could be a potentially pivotal moment in the top-six tussle with another home game to come next Tuesday night.
Wanderers - whose earlier opener from Thierry Gale had been cancelled out within minutes - were missing key man Josh Sheehan as one of three changes from their mid-week draw at Stevenage and suffered a further set-back mid-way through the first half when winger Amario Cozier-Duberry was forced out of the action with a knee injury.
John McAtee was one of those to come into the line-up for a just a second League One start of the season and early on he tried to punish O’s keeper Killian Cahill’s mis-cued clearance with a header which was from just too far out to really threaten the goal.
But it was the visitors – without a win in 18 visits to Bolton stretching back to 1970 – who created the first real chance when Theo Archibald’s superb ball into the box just eluded top scorer Dom Ballard in front of goal.
The enforced change for the Whites then saw Cyrus Christie slot in at right-back, with Jordi Osei-Tutu pushing further forward, and half an hour in Wanderers carved out their best opening yet when Sam Dalby did well to spin and release Gale for a run and shot which was straight at Cahill.
Cahill then had to make another comfortable save from Osei-Tutu after Gale had triggered a second dangerous counter-attack and in first-half stoppage time Wanderers should have gone ahead.
Max Conway did well to read Xavier Simon’s quickly taken free-kick and work the ball wide to Gale to deliver into the box. But when the ball then found it’s way back to Conway, the left-back couldn’t hit the target with his weaker right foot before Kaelan Casey nodded just wide at the other end in a flurry of late activity.
Wanderers needed to raise their game and they couldn’t have made a better start to the second half as within 30 seconds of the re-start they had taken the lead.
Picking up possession in the middle of the pitch, Ethan Erhahon immediately released Gale and the winger made the most of his re-call with a calm finish clipped past Cahill on the angle with his left foot to claim his sixth goal of the season.
That should have eased the tension in the home ranks but just four minutes later the O’s were level. This time Gale and Erhahon weren’t on the same wavelength as Wanderers lost the ball and allowed Ollie O’Neill to burst into the box and pull the ball back for Archibald to hammer home the equaliser.
Things almost got worst moments later when Wanderers got in a mess at the back when trying to play out and the Londoners were incensed when Azeem Abdulai went over in a collision with goalkeeper Jack Bonham but wasn’t given a spot-kick.
In a wide-open contest Wanderers then had another sight of goal on the break from Gale, whose effort was blocked at the expense of a corner neither Xavier Simons or Dalby could convert from inviting positions.
With the outcome still very much in the balance with 20 minutes to go, Schumacher made a triple change to inject some late energy and potential match-winners as Kyle Dempsey, Aaron Morley and Chris Forino all came on.
And it could have worked almost straight away with Forino staying up following a corner and being picked out by Morley for a close-range effort he couldn’t direct goalwards.
Wanderers’ own goal led a charmed life at times - George Johnston and Chris Forino both making vital blocks - as both sides went for a winner. And in the final minute of normal time the decisive chance came the Whites’ way from the spot after Abdulai stuck up an arm when trying to defend a Morley corner to concede a penalty.
Burstow had only been on the pitch for five minutes but showed the bottle to step up and take the responsibility, showing nerves of steel to drill home his long-awaited eighth goal of the season and lift Wanderers back towards the top two in the most dramatic of finishes.
Wanderers: Bonham; Osei-Tutu (Forino 72), Toal, Johnston, Conway; Simons (Morley 72), Erhahon; Cozier-Duberry (Christie 26), McAtee (Burstow 86), Gale (Dempsey 72); Dalby. Substitutes: Harrington, Cissoko.
Booked: Osei-Tutu, Christie, McAtee
Leyton Orient: Cahill; James (Happe 72), Casey, Simpson; Mitchell (Craig 66), Bakinson (Matthews 80), Abduali, Archibald; Wellens, O’Neill; Ballard. Substitutes: Phillips
Booked: R Wellens
Referee: Sebastian Stockbridge
Attendance: 20,352 (397 away)