Northampton beat brave London Irish 15-9 to extend lead at top of table

Sam Dickinson celebrates his try for Northampton

Northampton were made to fight all the way by London Irish before winning 15-9 to extend their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership.

Ken Pisi and Sam Dickinson scored tries and there were five points from the boot of Stephen Myler, Shane Geraghty kicking all of Irish's point.

The visitors very nearly snatched a shock victory in the last minute with the home pack just holding off a ferocious line-out drive.

Northampton made errors all the way through the game, and should have been out of sight by then.

They blew one try-scoring opportunity early on when Tom Stephenson dropped the ball on the line after Geraghty had missed a bouncing ball.

That was decided by TMO Sean Davey and a minute later he was back in action when Pisi dived to ground a cross-field kick from Myler.

The replays showed Pisi had just touched down before the ball went dead. Myler converted from the touchline to give Saints a 7-0 lead after 28 minutes.

Without Alex Corbisiero, due to a calf injury, and Dylan Hartley on England duty, Saints did not have it all their own way in the scrum all game and another penalty against the home front-row, saw Geraghty slot a simple three points to make it 7-3.

Geraghty missed a second penalty on half-time. That came after the home crowd were incensed to see referee Andrew Small, with the help of the TMO, issue yellow cards to props Salesi Ma'afu and Irish's Tom Court.

Ma'afu was sent to the bin for holding onto Court's leg after the pair came out of an Irish maul that had already won a penalty, while the former Ireland loosehead was carded for retaliating with a stamp.

The home side should have extended their lead within five minutes of the restart when they worked a three-on-two off a line-out drive, but a poor pass from Kahn Fotuali'i saw Pisi drop the ball short of the line.

Within four minutes of both sides returning to 15 men, Irish No 8 Tom Guest was yellow-carded for coming into the side of a Saints maul that was steaming to the try-line.

At the second attempt Northampton did drive over with Dickinson claiming the try. Myler missed the conversion, but Geraghty landed a long-range penalty to make it 12-6.

It was turning into a niggly affair with Saints skipper Phil Dowson losing his cool and giving away a penalty in an off-the-ball scuffle. Myler tried to calm things with a penalty, but Geraghty immediately replied with three points for Irish.

The visitors sensed a shock win and when they shoved Northampton off their own scrum, the Irish forwards were within inches of battering their way over until the ball was lost forward.

Then a series of penalties gave Irish a five-metre line-out drive but Saints manage to shove it into touch inches short.