London Irish 13 Leeds Carnegie 23: Leeds inch closer to safety as Exiles are frustrated

Leeds are ninth going into next weekend's Headingley Carnegie game against bottom club Worcester, and Key is determined to avoid any sense of relaxation in the camp.

He said: "We are absolutely ready for the job ahead because, as we said to the players, we haven't all worked this hard and come this far to end up on the slab again.

"Two games remaining, two games to win.

"That was the most pleasing performance of our season in terms of how we played and the character we displayed in the final quarter to keep Irish out. For me it was quite outstanding.

"I know we have a better record on the road than at home, but that's because we play without any sense of pressure away, hence our wins at Wasps, Sale and Newcastle.

"This win was tremendous because we achieved it despite not taking very good chances created in the first half."

Leeds can secure their Guinness Premiership status if they avoid defeat to Worcester on Sunday and Key is confident of doing so.

He added: "Now, we need to be realistic.

"We produced a poor performance in losing at Harlequins last week, but we decided to leave the players to deal with that. I believe they gave their answer on the pitch against Irish.

"Now, the prospect of enjoying another season in the Premiership is wholly in our hands, and it's a job we must complete next week.

"Yes, I felt somewhat annoyed for a while when it seemed that Irish were coming in from the side to protect their ball. But we'll address that through the proper channels later.

"I'm probably more disappointed that we're losing three young players in the summer, products from our excellent academy.

"But this win, and a future in the Premiership, can make us a club such lads feel no need to leave for bigger prospects."

London Irish head coach Toby Booth pulled no punches, but may well have felt like delivering a few as his team wasted a major opportunity to recapture the top-four spot they lost to Wasps 24 hours earlier.

Booth said: "You cannot afford to relinquish control of your destiny at this stage of the season to a team fighting for their lives.

"But when I look at the statistics and see we were guilty of 27 errors, I have some of the answers to my questions.

"Frankly, we were left wanting and could not establish a foothold in that game, despite starting well and leading.

"You have to hand power to your players to make decisions on the pitch, it's not a dictatorship. But I am very disappointed because we had plenty of ball and a lot of pressure without turning it into points.

"The stats are damning and we lacked a little bit of punch. I credit Leeds for the fact that we were never allowed to get real control of the game. Now we are no longer in control of finishing in the top four, something the supporters here deserve.

"We have two games left and we must go out there and perform better than we did against Leeds."

Chris Malone kicked early goals, either side of one by Ceiron Thomas, whose equalising penalty was followed quickly by the goal that put Leeds ahead for the first time.

Irish then imploded on 34 minutes. Delon Armitage dropped a probing high ball, his team-mates appeared to freeze for a few seconds, during which Leeds centre Luther Burrell reacted fastest, snaffling up the ball, side-stepping Peter Hewat and banging the ball down by the post, Thomas converting.

Hewat lifted home spirits on 38 minutes when he took a pass from Jamie Gibson and crossed the Leeds line in style. Malone's conversion made sure Irish did not change ends seriously adrift, but had Leeds finished as well as they approached, butchering one four-man overlap via Seru Rabibi's blinkered attitude, a major shock was on the cards.

Irish gradually regained the upper hand, but despite winning four penalties in Leeds's 22, and requesting scrums for every one, they could not crack the visitors' defence. The cost was immense as Lee Blackett intercepted a loose pass on 70 minutes and sent Jon Goodridge in for a try, converted by Thomas.

London Irish: Hewat, Rudd, Homer, Mapusua, D Armitage, Malone, Hodgson, Corbisiero, Coetzee, Rautenbach, Roche, Casey, Gibson, S Armitage, Stowers. Replacements: Paice, Murphy, Tideswell, Garvey, Thorpe, Joseph, Lennard, Stevenson.

Leeds Carnegie: Goodridge, Fa'afili, Burrell, Rabeni, Blackett, Thomas, Mathie, MacDonald, Titterrell, Gomez, Lund, Wentzel, Clark, Fourie, To'oala. Replacements: Nilsen, Hardy, Swainston, Denton, Oakley, Gomarsall, Ford, H Paul.

Referee: W Barnes (RFU).