Barry Everitt kicked London Irish to victory against Sale Sharks by landing 23 of his side's 28 points.

Sharks, who last week conceded 22 penalties at Harlequins, carried on in the same fashion against Irish with Everitt kicking his side into a ninth-minute lead.

Seconds later full-back Michael Horack had his clearance kick charged down by Graham Bond leaving the Sale centre with an easy route to the try-line.

Braam van Straaten's conversion and a second Everitt penalty gave the home side a 7-6 lead on the quarter hour.

Referee Roy Maybank wrongly penalised Chris Jones for a deliberate knock on half way through the first half and Everitt made no mistake with his third penalty as the lead changed hands once again.

And Everitt increased his side's lead as the visitors maintained their policy of kicking everything.

A high tackle on Jones by Horack allowed van Straaten to reduce the gap to two points but an electrifying break by Horack two minutes later sucked Sale into defending their right-hand side before the ball was switched to the opposite flank, allowing Rob Hardwick to crash over from close range with Everitt making light work of the touch-line conversion.

The second half began with Everitt's fifth penalty but the biggest cheer of the night came after 43 minutes with the arrival of Charlie Hodgson for his first game in a Sale shirt since February.

Van Straaten responded with a penalty of his own before the Edgeley Park faithful were roused from their slumbers by Steve Hanley's 40-yard burst towards the line before careless hands from the Sharks gave the impetus back to the Irish.

And the Irish stretched their lead to 25-16 shortly before the hour with Everitt's sixth penalty answered by van Straaten's fourth six minutes later.

With the game slipping away and their fourth home defeat of the season drawing closer, Sale were grateful for Hanley's 75th-minute try and van Straaten's conversion which handed his side the lead as the game entered stoppage time.

However, there was one final twist in the tale as Everitt's late drop goal secured his side's first win against Sale for three years by the narrowest of margins.

Teams:

Sharks: Going, Cueto, van Straaten, Bond, Hanley, Walshe, Wigglesworth, Yates, Titterell, Turner, Fullarton, Schofield, A. Sanderson, Pinkerton, C. Jones.

Replacements: Hodgson for Wigglesworth (43), Sheridan for Yates (43), Cairns for Titterell (43), Stewart for Turner (53).

Not Used: Lund, Devlin, Mayor.

Tries: Bond, Hanley.

Cons: van Straaten 2.

Pens: van Straaten 4.

London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Hoadley, Bishop, Everitt, Edwards, Hatley, Drotske, Hardwick, Strudwick, Casey, Danaher, Dawson, Sheasby.

Replacements: Barrett for Edwards (73), Murphy for Sheasby (40).

Not Used: Durant, Flavin, Roche, Mordt, Laidlor.

Tries: Hardwick.

Cons: Everitt.

Pens: Everitt 6.

Drop Goals: Everitt.

Att: 5,605

Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU). London Irish head coach Gary Gold was not about to get carried away after the last-gasp win.

"We very definitely had a gameplan," he said.

"We needed to have one against a side who have got into their stride recently. We knew it was going to be a difficult task and we stuck to our guns.

"Even so we could have stuck to them better. Barry Everitt kicked very well for us. He's very reliable, and I felt confident that we would do well tonight."

Gold's opposite number Jim Mallinder felt his team paid dearly for the errors they made.

"We played in patches," he admitted.

"We did quite well to get into the game, but it was a little cruel at the end.

"We had our chances. But a couple of stupid mistakes have cost us, and those errors are the difference between winning and losing."

He too saw Everitt's contribution as key to the outcome.

"Everitt is a good kicker and he punished us. We need to get this performance out of our system before we begin to think about playing Leeds next week."