Beckenham were overwhelmed by an extremely useful London Irish Amateur side in the second half to register only their second home defeat of the season.

Beckenham started strongly but got little change out of an impressive Irish defence and they could not seriously threaten the scoreboard.

The visitors settled down and started to operate their own game plan with good support work and offloading before the tackle and eventually got a penalty in kicking range to take a three point lead. Irish should have added a try but dropped the ball when all they had to do was cross the line and this gave the home side the chance to get back in the game.

Beckenham dominated the period of the game and scored an excellent try. Craig Hulls joined the attack from the opposite wing and cut through the centre before linking with Pat Wright who made ground before finding Pete Isaac with a beautiful inside pass and he stepped inside the fullback to run in and touch down under the posts.

Chivers added the extras to give the hosts a four point lead and from the kick off Beckenham continued to dominate the play but could not create a decent scoring chance.

Disaster struck just before the break as the visitors scored a fine try out wide with Prescott adding the conversion from the touchline and the visitors went in leading by 7 to 10 at the break.

Beckenham came out with all guns blazing at the start of the second half and spent the first ten minutes pressing on the visitor’s line but they could not manufacture a score and that was effectively the end of their challenge.

Two converted tries by ‘Irish took the lead to 7 to 24 before Beckenham got back into action. A classic catch and drive from a lineout by the Beckenham forwards gave Luke Harding the chance to touch down, Chivers adding a fine conversion to reduce the deficit to ten points.

Just when the home side looked like getting back in to the game they wasted the chance of a lineout close to the visitor’s line and that was their last real attacking opportunity.

London Irish dominated the remainder of the game and scored two late converted tries. Although good value for their win, the final score of 14 to 38 was a little harsh on the home side who will need to learn to take the chances they have worked so hard to create.