Orient boy back from horror on the pitch

Indeed, it is only when Oakley is asked to recall the incident at Rushden, which happened in March last year, that his sanguine demeanour changes. "I was running down the wing, I put the ball in and then I suddenly felt my chest getting tight," he said. "I thought that my asthma was playing up, because I suffer from that, but then I realised that my heart was beating too fast. I remember going down and then all of a sudden I was out.

"I woke up and I was in the physio room with paramedics all around me, they called for an air ambulance and took me to a hospital in Kettering. I thought 'That's it with football, I've got to look for a new career'. The doctors were telling me I was going to be all right, but I really had my doubts."

Orient, though, had some experience in dealing with his condition and knew better. In an incredible coincidence Paul Jones, the 18-yearold goalkeeper who came to prominence following his FA Cup heroics against Manchester United while onloan at Exeter, had suffered from the same condition, which is caused by the presence of abnormal electric pathways in the heart.

But, despite the assurances that Oakley received from Orient's medical-team, there were psychological barriers that he needed to overcome.

"The first game back I was thinking, 'am I going to be out of breath? Is my heart going to start racing? Am I going to collapse?' That was all running through my head but the game ended and I thought 'I can handle it'," said the young striker.

But those doubts proved to be unfounded and recent performances have instilled further belief. After returning to action in December, Oakley scored four goals in the next five matches, including a hat-trick that helped Orient clinch the South East Conference Youth League, ahead of teams from Portsmouth and QPR.

And, paradoxically, Oakley has come to realise that departure from a Premiership club might even have been a blessing in disguise. "I wanted to be at Charlton, but I'm glad that I came to Orient because you know that you will get a chance - there's four scholars in the first-team squad already." he said.

This is a point that Orient's manager, and former youth team coach, Martin Ling, is keen to emphasise.

"That's how we sell it to people - if you come to Leyton Orient you will get a chance to play,' he said. "When I was youth coach in 2001 we had a 'meet the parents' evening and the way we sold the club was to put a first-team teamsheet from the previous season on an overhead projector and there were six or seven boys who had come through the system.

"You have got to have belief in your youth system and certainly in the four and a half years that I have been on the coaching side it's been proved that youth-team boys will play firstteam football at Leyton Orient."

Statistics support Ling's rhetoric. Orient's scholars, who are aged from 16 to 19, have amassed more than 60 first-team appearances between them this season - a feat that is unlikely to be matched in any of the four divisions. Furthermore, Orient are the only League Two side still in the FA Youth Cup, something of which Ling is particularly proud.

"It's a glamour competition that everyone knows about, and an opportunity to promote this football club," he said.

It is also, by way of tonight's clash with West Ham, a chance for Orient to measure the success of their youth set-up against a club who have long prided themselves on developing the best home-grown talent in London - a challenge that both Ling and Oakley will no doubt relish.