PADDY Jackson's mammoth penalty from 57 metres out with eight minutes to play condemned Worcester Warriors to their 10th straight Gallagher Premiership defeat as London Irish won a thrilling contest at the Brentford Community Stadium.

It was the longest penalty in the Premiership season to date as Worcester had to settle for a losing bonus-point despite a spirited second-half performance saw them come back from 17-3 to draw level in the final quarter.

Irish had a healthy advantage at the break after Ben Meehan's early try and Steve Mafi's score after Matt Kvesic was sin-binned but Niall Annett marked his 100th club appearance with a try on 49 minutes before Justin Clegg's try and Billy Searle's conversion levelled the scores at 17-17 with ten minutes to go.

But with seven minutes left, a breakdown penalty given against Warriors on half-way enabled Jackson to step up and slot the kick with room to spare and seal the win.

Irish had started the brighter of the two and went ahead after nine minutes when a stolen lineout on half-way enabled Irish to throw the ball wide, culminating in Irish's Ben Meehan going over the line.

Worcester dominated the opening 40 minutes with 70% possession and a huge amount of territory but could not make it count as handling errors cost them dearly.

The home side extended their lead shortly before half-time when a flowing counter-attack eventually ended with Kvesic being sent to the bin after a cynical infringement and moments later Mafi charged over from short range.

Either side of that score, Searle was narrowly off target with two penalty attempts which were to gain in significance as the match wore on.

Warriors continued to dominate in the second half to such an extent that Irish only made one visit into the 22 when Jackson kicked ahead and Nick David jinked his way out of trouble.

Superb interplay between Ashley Beck and Kvesic eventually opened up the home defence and Annett, who had a busy afternoon in attack and defence, galloped over for a thoroughly deserved score which Searle improved.

Warriors applied further pressure and patience and persistence was rewarded when Clegg muscled his way over from close range and Searle added the conversion to level at 17-17.

But a penalty at the breakdown, a rare lapse of discipline in the second half, was all Jackson needed to snatch the win and break Warriors’ hearts.