London Irish head coach Toby Booth has praised Newcastle for their second-half fightback at Kingston Park on Saturday.
"It was probably a fair result," Exiles boss admits
London Irish head coach Toby Booth has praised Newcastle for the second-half fightback which earned the Falcons a 12-12 Guinness Premiership draw at Kingston Park.
The Exiles appeared destined for their first win of 2010 after tries from George Stowers and Steffon Armitage took them into a 12-3 lead.
However, Falcons fly-half Jimmy Gopperth kicked three penalties after the break to tie the scores, having kicked one from three before the interval.
Despite a result which resulted in a further loss of momentum in terms of securing a play-off place, Booth was not overly critical of his side.
"It was probably a fair result as we were dominant for one half and so were they," he said.
"We had upper hand line-out wise and they had the upper hand scrum wise and it often goes like that.
"The disappointing thing for us is we let go a 12-3 lead, but you have to give people credit for that.
"The conditions were very tough out there, the pitch isn't great and they won the kicking game in the second half and we couldn't get out.
"You need to have a good platform and that helps your kicking game and it wavered a bit due to the pressure we were under, you have to give Newcastle credit for that."
On track
Booth had hoped the Exiles, who are without a win in any competition since December 27, would get their challenge for a play-off place back on track.
He said: "Hopefully that's the u-turn that takes us back up the profile as it was pretty lonely last week (when the Exiles suffered a 35-22 defeat against Bath).
"Having my bicep reattached, turning 40 and being beaten by 30 points capped a great weekend for me last week to be fair!
"But there was a lot of effort out there tonight, we worked hard and we had trained exceptionally well and two points away from home could be crucial.
"Newcastle will make it difficult for teams coming here and I hope they do.
"Hopefully we are back on the right road, and if we can tighten up a few bits and pieces we will soon be back on the winning trail."
Meanwhile, Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates said he thought his side were unlucky not to snatch victory late in the game.
"It was a big physical battle on a surface that is not conducive to running round," he said.
"I thought it was an exciting and physical battle and we may have let that just slip in the second half.
"I am disappointed we didn't win as we had enough possession and territory but we have got to take a lot of positives, we have played two of the top four sides in the country in the last two weeks (Northampton and London Irish) and been really competitive.
"There are things we need to work on but generally speaking I think we can cope with anybody in this league."
