Saints 22 London Broncos 24 JUST six short weeks ago unbeaten Saints ruled the Super League roost.

Now a money-spinning top five spot could be in jeopardy!

For this first-ever defeat against London meant that slumping Saints have now lost five games and, with 11 to play, the bench-mark for squeezing into the play-offs is regarded as losing no more than nine

While there was no lack of effort against the Broncos, the plain truth is most of the failings which began to surface last month were much in evidence here, i.e. lack of flair, imagination and support work - in short, boring one-man rugby.

Well-drilled London provided an expansive approach and superb scrambling defence, allied to a coherent game plan orchestrated by half-backs Karle Hammond and Shaun Edwards.

Attempting to keep this shock reverse in perspective, it should be remembered that Saints had a game in midweek while London didn't; and the home side were lacking the injured Kevin Iro and Tommy Martyn plus the suspended Vila Matautia, while Apollo Perelini and Tony Stewart were crocked at crucial stages

The issue remained in doubt until the final hooter and non-stop Sonny Nickle took both the John Smiths and Spacia Marketing man-of-the-match awards. On a personal note, I thought Paul Atcheson, Paul Wellens, Sean Long and Paul Sculthorpe went well.

Hammond's cross-kick opened the way for Edward's tracer-bullet pass to put Matt Toshack over Saints' line for Tulsen Tollett to convert, but Saints were on terms after seven minutes when Long's brilliant break was finished off by Sculthorpe, with Sean adding the extra points.

Perelini was turned in the act of scoring, and the game ebbed and flowed until the 25th minute when Hammond's inch-perfect chip to the posts was seized upon by the fast-following Tollett, who touched down and tacked on the goal, while Anthony Sullivan raced in at the other end only to be denied through a forward pass. Sully made it count soon after, however, when sent away by Paul Newlove, with the Welsh international flyer's 13th try of the season meaning Saints swopped ends with a mere 10-12 deficit, a scoreline which nonetheless did nothing to silence the boo-boys.

London continued to ask most of the questions on the resumption against a home side persisting in keeping play tight, but the penny dropped at last when, after yet another searing break by Long, the ball was moved to the right for Stewart to finish strongly. Long converted.

So, with half-an-hour remaining, Saints led for the first time, albeit by only 16-12, but the see-saw scoring pattern continued when Edwards and Robbie Beazley sent linking full-back Greg Fleming between the pavilion uprights, and Tollett's trusty boot made it another six-pointer.

Nickle's plunge from acting half-back and Long's third goal gave Saints' a 22-18 advantage, only for Broncos to have the final say when Edwards' shrewd ball split the home defence for Peter Gill to score, while stand-in goalkicker Hammond was cucumber-cool in landing the all-important conversion.

Joynt failed to serve the unmarked Sullivan and a kickable penalty was spurned when Newlove was high-tackled as Saints staked their all on a last-gasp victory. But it was not to be with the ecstatic Broncos fully meriting their moment of history while Saints fans were left to ponder on what is going wrong.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.