After conceding eight goals in their last two games, manager Jon Brady reverted to a more dogged, back-to-basics approach and that worked insomuch that the first half was a tight, goalless affair, albeit only after Orient had missed two good chances.
But Cobblers stepped it up in the second half and were ultimately deserving winners. McGeehan struck the decisive blow straight after the restart, once again in the right place at the right time to slide home his fourth of the season, and the hosts showed organisation, guts and spirit in spades to limit Orient to virtually nothing throughout the second 45 minutes and ensure a much-needed victory.
Brady went back to his old faithfuls as Mitch Pinnock, Ben Fox and Sam Hoskins all started, with Tyler Roberts and Tariqe Fosu only on the bench.
But Orient made the far more assured start and three times in the opening five minutes they threatened down their left, the last of those ending with Lee Burge keeping out Jack Baldwin’s misdirected clearance.
Orient were on top though and they really should have taken an eighth-minute lead when one pass took out the whole of Town’s midfield and Ethan Galbraith slipped through Dan Agyei and he rounded Burge but then failed to hit the target.
It took Cobblers a while to settle down but they did improve and long balls up to Tom Eaves caused problems for Orient. He did get in behind the visiting defence on one occasion 11 minutes in but Omar Beckles recovered and made an excellent block.
Nesta Guinness-Walker, who started well at left-back, was not shy in coming forward and he did so to good effect when bursting into the box from Mitch Pinnock’s knockdown before having a shot blocked.