By Mark Mitchener

We know we've got goals in the side Matt Lockwood

Defender Matt Lockwood feels Leyton Orient should have nothing to fear in League One following their promotion.

"Apart from teams like Forest who have a lot of money to spend, with 90% of the sides in this division, anyone can beat anyone," Lockwood told BBC Sport.

"I think we've shown that by beating good sides in Millwall and Bournemouth.

"We've got to play how we played last year, even though we're in a different division, as these sides aren't that much better than what we were playing."

Martin Ling's side are back in the third tier of English football after an 11-year absence, and had a rude awakening with a 3-0 defeat at Port Vale on the opening game.

But since then, the O's have enjoyed back-to-back home wins to extend an unbeaten home run which has lasted since February - and Lockwood admits they would have settled for taking six points out of nine at this stage.

"After the first game of the season, a few people were saying that Orient weren't good enough for this level, but that was the kick up the backside we needed," he said.

MATT LOCKWOOD FACTFILE Born: Essex, 17.10.1976 Position: Left-back 1996-1998: Bristol Rovers (77 appearances, 1 goal) 1998-date: Leyton Orient (341 appearances, 45 goals)

"Now we've won the next two games, against two decent sides.

"Last year, we were awesome on the road at the start of the season but weren't the best at home, but then we turned it round and kept seven or eight clean sheets on the trot at home.

"We know we've got goals in the side, so if we can be that good this year, I can't see any reason why we can't challenge for a play-off spot."

Despite losing fellow defender Gabriel Zakuani in a big-money move to Fulham over the summer, Lockwood feels the O's can take heart from how well last season's promoted teams did in League One.

"You only have to look at Southend going straight up and Swansea doing well to see there isn't a big gap between League One and League Two," he said.

"They're our local rivals, but I'm from Southend, I've lived there all my life and I keep a close eye on them.

"If that doesn't inspire us to go on and do well this year, I don't know what will."

Regeneration has been the theme of the past 12 months in this part of east London, with the 2012 Olympic Stadium set to dominate the area, while Brisbane Road has been undergoing a renaissance of its own under chairman Barry Hearn.

The old terraces are gone, with a new West Stand now open and smart apartment blocks on the four corners of the stadium. Only the north end of the ground, currently empty, is still awaiting a new stand of its own.

"People wouldn't recognise the ground from how it was a couple of years ago," Lockwood admitted.

Chairman Barry Hearn celebrates promotion with Michael Simpson

"The chairman's doing things right off the pitch, so it's down to us to get it right on it. This year it's a case of seeing if we can push on and do it again.

"I think the new stand's going to be put up sometime this season and there's new dressing-rooms going in over in the West Stand, so it's all being geared to play at this level of football.

"If we could get up another division, it would be absolutely fantastic, but I think this year it's a case of finding our feet in this league - though without being scared and worrying about how good everyone is."

And the long-serving left-back can probably appreciate better than most how far the O's have come in the last few years.

"This is my ninth year here - before I signed, people told me Orient were a club with an ambitious chairman and they were going places," Lockwood said.

"OK, it's taken us eight years to get promotion, but the squad the gaffer's put together is definitely good enough for this level.