Leyton Orient coach Paul Terry admitted it was disappointing to see two players sent off in their EFL Trophy opener at Gillingham and discipline needs to improve.

Loanees Shaq Forde and Brandon Cooper - who was making his debut - were dismissed in quick succession by referee Ben Atkinson at Priestfield, with O's leading 1-0 thanks to an own goal from home keeper Glenn Morris.

And the hosts levelled from a Cheye Alexander penalty, before an 83rd-minute own goal from Omar Beckles condemned O's to a 2-1 loss.

"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.

"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."

Wellens was handed a two-match ban after contesting his red card and Terry picked up a yellow card in Kent, along with Matt Harrold.

"Shaq had got sent off, I was holding the ball and got told I held it too long," added Terry.

"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.

"It's not good. Is it completely all down to us? I don't know. We have to look at things, but I agree, we can't be ill-disciplined.

"From us on the bench to the players on the pitch, we've got to be better and we will be.

"There's a lot of positives I want to take from the game, a lot of performances that was good."

Joe Pigott, Max Sanders and Forde all had sight of goal in the first half, before George Moncur's shot hit a post and rebounded into the net off the back of Morris.

Pigott and Charlie Pegrum fired over at the start of the second half, before Forde was dismissed following an off-the-ball incident and Cooper - booked in the first half for a foul on Jayden Clarke - for bringing down Macauley Bonne.

Alexander then levelled from the spot, with Terry adding: "The penalty is a tough one. We're a long way away but I didn't think it was a penalty at the time. 

"I thought the linesman had a really good view of it, was looking straight at it, but the referee give it.

"What can we say? The referee has made a decision, I don't think it was a penalty, they [Gillingham] might think it was a penalty but we've got to deal with it and get on with it now."

And after Gills edged ahead, O's saw Idris El Mizouni denied by a late save from Morris and Ruel Sotiriou fire over.

"We had some really good moments in the game. For 60 minutes we were good," said Terry.

"We started the second half really sloppy I think but for the first 45 I thought we moved the ball really well.

"Brandon coming in looked really good, Becks coming back into the team was good, Max Sanders getting some minutes again.

"There was a lot of positives to come from the game, that's what we've got to look at and take forward going to Exeter on Saturday."