Richie Wellens made a winning return to the Peninsula Stadium as Leyton Orient beat Salford 2-0 to take a giant stride towards promotion from League Two.

First-half goals from Ruel Sotiriou and George Moncur saw Orient extend their unbeaten run to 11 matches and move 10 points clear at the top – with a game in hand.

But a first defeat in four outings saw Salford slip out of the top seven as the battle for a play-off place approaches the final stretch.

Wellens was sacked as Salford boss two years ago but is closing in on a promotion to League One with his current club.

Orient were rewarded for their great start midway through the first half as Kieran Sadlier teed up Sotiriou to score the opener.

Sotiriou got in behind again and pulled the ball back towards Moncur who doubled the visitors’ lead with his eighth goal of the season.

Lawrence Vigouroux saved from Luke Bolton and Stevie Mallan in the second half as he recorded his 22nd clean sheet of the season.