Shane Geraghty celebrates his match-winning drop-goal © Getty Images

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London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith heaped praise on Shane Geraghty, who scored a last-gasp drop-goal to snatch a victory over Exeter Chiefs at the Madejski Stadium.

Exeter led 13-5 at the break but conceded 17 points in the third quarter to cede the advantage to Irish. Gareth Steenson's boot nudged Chiefs back in front, before patient play led to Geraghty's drop-goal, which condemned Exeter to their fourth consecutive defeat.

"Most sides would have played for a penalty and we made the correct decision but very few ball players would want to step up like that and it shows the class of the man," Smith said of Geraghty.

"I thought we had blown our chance, when we gave away those two penalties in quick succession and I knew [Gareth] Steenson wasn't going to miss. Losing down there was the turning point of our season. They celebrated hard; it didn't go unnoticed and it hurt us, so there was plenty of motivation today."

Geraghty hailed Tomas O'Leary's perfect pass in the run up to the winning kick, saying: "Missing earlier penalty kicks was not in my mind but it all happened so quickly. I thought the game was gone but I wanted the drop kick chance early as I didn't want to go through eighteen phases. It was a great pass from Tomas O'Leary as it was timed to perfection."

Exeter boss Rob Baxter admitted that his team are going through a rough patch but praised their comeback after their poor third quarter.

"The next win is proving tough to find," he said. "We are a little bit hesitant and we are expecting things to happen as opposed to making them happen. Having been on a losing run, we knew it was going to be a bit nervy and despite what I said, it was. We had an opportunity to move up to fourth place but we didn't take it."

"We bounced back from two scores and it would have been very easy to cave in. With a minute to go we were up and in control of the ball in their 22 but it wasn't to be."