Forest Green Rovers fell to an opening day defeat, as Leyton Orient ran out 2-1 winners in the Carabao Cup first round.

The home side opened the scoring shortly after the half hour mark, but two goals in four minutes – courtesy of Danny Johnson and Conor Wilkinson – turned the tide of the encounter.

Mark Cooper made just one change to the side that faced Swansea City, as Jordan Moore-Taylor came into the side in place of Elliott Whitehouse.

A dominant Rovers side had the first sniff of goal after just eight minutes, as Dan Sweeney fires a rocket towards the top left, but he was denied by a very sharp Lawrence Vigouroux stop.

It was all Rovers for the first half hour, Jamille Matt testing Vigouroux after 27 minutes as he drove in from the left.

Rovers’ constant pressure finally broke through the Orient defence after 33 minutes.

Nicky Cadden made one of those trademark darts down the left before lashing a ball across goal, Orient centre-half Dan Happe turning it into his own net.

Rovers took the lead into the break, but it was the visitors who burst out of the blocks in the second half, and just 10 minutes into the second period they had flipped the game on its head.

With 49 minutes on the clock, Johnson found himself in behind, and calmly lobbed over the advancing Luke McGee, before, just three minutes later, Orient had a second.

Wilkinson picked the ball up on the right from a long, diagonal pass, and powered inside to fire an effort into the far corner.

Moments later, the Orient number nine found himself in again, but this time McGee was equal to the left-footed effort as he searched for the same corner.

McGee was called into action again to deny the visitors a third, getting a strong hand to a powerful header from a corner.

With just 10 minutes to go, Rovers turned up the heat, and Carl Winchester went just inches from pulling the affair level from range.

Cadden, ever the danger, latched onto Winchester’s pass down the left but nobody could get on the end of his fizzing cross.

 Referee: Craig Hicks

Forest Green XI: McGee, Wilson, Sweeney, Stokes, Winchester (c), Adams, Collins (McCoulsky 80’), Cadden, Matt (Stevens 71), Moore-Taylor, Godwin-Malife

Unused subs: Thomas, Kitching, Allen, Evans, Wagstaff

Leyton Orient XI: Vigouroux, Ling, Cisse, Happe, Coulson, McAnuff (Wright 84’), Clay (Dayton 71’), Wilkinson (Widdowson 89’), Brophy, Angol, Johnson

Unused subs: Sargeant, Maguire-Drew, Thomas, Turley