TABLE-TOPPING London Irish Wild Geese bagged two late tries to extend Westcliff’s winless start to the season to eight games.

Westcliff seemed set to pull off a stunning triumph when they led 13-5 heading into the closing stages of the National Three London & SE clash.

But the league leaders turned the game on its on head to leave Westcliff’s first team manager Rick Compton a frustrated figure at the final whistle.

“Defeat was an incredibly bitter pill to swallow and it was a pretty despondent group at the end of the game,” said Compton.

“But while disappointed, there was also a lot of resolve and satisfaction at some if not all of the aspects of the performance. “We have to continue to work on our game and in particular closing things out from winning positions.

“Of the eight games we have lost we could have won six of them and of those we should have won at least four having led them going into the final quarter.

“Game management remains the key area we need to improve and the one we will concentrate on in the coming weeks as we seek to turn our season around.”

As it is, Westcliff still sit second from bottom in the standings.

They went behind after 28 minutes at the weekend when London Irish’s number eight drove over in the corner.

The game continued to be keenly contested but neither side were able to score until the final play of the half when a sustained period of pressure from Westcliff resulted in Jim Smith receiving an inside pass from Reece Whiting which allowed him to crash over for a try.

Jack Jones’ conversion put Westcliff 7-5 ahead at half-time before he extended the visitors lead with a penalty at the start of the second half.

Another effort from Jones soon made it 13-5 heading into the final quarter.

But Irish continued to throw everything at Westcliff and, with the clock winding down, they were able to score two late tries to snatch victory from the visitors’ grasp.

Westcliff: Parmenter, B Reynolds, Jones, O’Brien, Merrick, Dudman, Whiting, Whitmore, Smith, Binneman, Edwards, Lane, Scoggins, Marsh S Reynolds Replacements: Meakin, Morrant & Ansell.