London Irish boss Toby Booth says his side are in "disbelief" after Bath condemned them to a ninth straight defeat.
Exiles boss raises questions about late penalty decision after loss
London Irish boss Toby Booth says his side are in "disbelief" after Bath condemned them to a ninth straight defeat.
The Exiles led for the much of the Aviva Premiership contest at the Majedski Stadium but Olly Barkley scored a penalty on 80 minutes to secure a 25-24 victory for the visitors.
Irish seemed on course to halt the miserable run as their attacking flair led to tries for Sailosi Tagicakibau, Richard Thorpe and Topsy Ojo.
But Barkely took advantage of frequent indiscipline from the hosts to kick six penalties, with Michael Claassens scoring the only try for the winning side.
Booth thinks his side were hard done by at the end but admitted that their constant infringements were the reason behind the loss.
"When you score three tries and concede one, you expect to win the game," Booth said.
"I have got a dressing room full of people in disbelief. I felt we did enough to win the game, but we didn't. Discipline has cost us the game."
Decision
The decisive penalty was awarded after Irish flanker Steffon Armitage was adjudged to have collapsed a maul, but Booth said it was not a clear-cut decision.
He added: "It was a 50-50 call. He (referee Greg Garner) has made the decision, whether it's the right one? We will go through the referee assessors, and nothing will happen.
"We were 6-0 on penalties in our favour in the first 30 minutes, which would suggest if you kept the ball, you got a penalty.
"Today was probably the first time in my history we have been penalised twice for collapsing a maul that has not started from a lineout.
"Ultimately, there are three things that decide a contest - two teams and the man in the middle."
Bath ended their own run of poor form with the victory, as Steve Meehan's side claimed their first win in six games in all competitions.
"It's a good result. There will be plenty of smiles, and we've got to build on this now for next week against Leeds," Meehan said.
"I know how much hard work the players have been doing, and it's great to get the monkey off our back.
"In a tight competition like the Premiership it can be the bounce of the ball or one error that decides things. From our point of view, I knew it would turn around, I knew the win would come."
