Steve Davis managed Crewe for more than five years before his departure in January

National League club Leyton Orient have sacked head coach Steve Davis.

The former Crewe manager, 52, took charge of the O's in July following their relegation from League Two at the end of last season.

However, the London club have won only five of their 19 league matches in 2017-18 and are 19th in the table, three points above the relegation zone.

Ross Embleton and Dean Brill will take charge on an interim basis while a successor is found.

"There is no doubt results haven't been up to the required levels over the last two months," said chairman Nigel Travis, external-link who completed a takeover of the club in June.

"We showed a lot of promise in the early part of the season and unfortunately that hasn't been sustained, so we felt it was time to make a change in order to give us the best chance of turning our fortunes around for the second half of the season.

"Steve came in at a difficult time with a shortened pre-season and a complete squad and staff rebuilding process under way. He worked tirelessly and professionally and we know from the players how much they enjoyed his training ground work.

"However, ultimately football is a results-based business and whilst we knew this was going to be a challenging season, we did not expect to be so close to the bottom four at this stage."

Former Burnley defender Davis managed Crewe for more than five years until his departure in January.