LONDON Irish captain Josh McNally was pleased to maintain his side’s unbeaten start to the Greene King IPA Championship after they edged to a 21-17 victory at Coventry on Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

Exiles had to overturn a 10-7 half-time deficit, but their bench proved key in helping inflict a first home defeat on their opponents in more than a year.

Second row McNally admitted it had been a tough game and paid tribute to the Midlanders, stating: “They’ve got a great set-up here and it feels like the crowd are on the pitch.

“They have loyal support and it will be a tough place to come for a lot of teams. I don’t think many teams will win here.

“We’re happy and we can scratch it off and say we got a good win here.”

After Dave Porecki had scored in the first half, it was a Brendan Macken try 10 minutes from time, allied to 11 points from the boot of Stephen Myler, which proved key for Irish, and McNally admitted: “The energy came from the bench.

“There were some things which weren’t quite clicking in the first half, but guys came off the bench and brought a lot of energy, the set-piece functioned a little bit better and we got out of trouble.

“It was a scrappy game but we came out on top, but we’ll have to have a look at a few things.”

Irish legend Topsy Ojo was also pleased to make it four wins from four, revealing it had been a tough day at the office.

He confessed: “It was a good atmosphere, their fans came in numbers and ours as well – thanks to them for coming and supporting.

“It made it into a good game – their fans really got behind Coventry and made it very difficult.

“It’s another win, it’s another four points on the board and we’re still chasing that performance, but it’s a long season and we know we can get there.”