London Broncos were knocked out of the Betfred Challenge Cup after a 14-2 defeat to fellow Championship side York City Knights at Rosslyn Park.

Ed Chamberlain’s kick gave the hosts a first half lead where opportunities were few and far between, before York ran in two tries after the break to seal victory in the second round tie.

Penalty puts Broncos ahead

After a tight first 20 minutes, it was the Broncos who got the first points on the board when Olsi Krasniqi was fouled with a high tackle and Chamberlain kicked the resulting penalty between the sticks.

York thought they scored the first try five minutes later. Debutant Adam Cuthbertson did well to offload in the build up as Jason Bass was set free down the left, but was called to be in touch as he dived for the line.

Sam Davis and Jacob Jones were then held up by stern York defence as London looked for the opening try, before forcing a goal line drop out with Kieran Dixon unable to get out over the try line after a grubber kick from London debutant Rian Horsman on the last.

Porter puts York ahead

But it was York who got the breakthrough inside three minutes after the restart. Cuthbertson played a neat ball inside to Joseph Porter who broke through the defence to cross the line, with Dixon adding the extras to put the visitors 6-2 to the good.

London looked for a response, with Bass doing well to punch the ball out as Gideon Boafo looked to touch down a grubber kick through before the Knights had a great chance to go further ahead.

Brendan O’Hagan found space to break through the defence from his own half and passed to Matthew Marsh, but he was well tackled just before the try line by Chamberlain before Daniel Kirmond knocked on when well placed on the last tackle.

Dixon then kicked a penalty to extend York’s lead to six midway through the second half after the Broncos were penalised for a high tackle just inside their own 20 metres.

Krasniqi went close to getting over the line for London after they forced a repeat set, but stern defending from the visitors kept him from crossing as the Broncos had prolonged pressure as they looked to get back into the game.

Knights seal victory

However, York would go on and seal victory with three minutes to go. O’Hagan played a neat pass across to Kirmond who threw it along one more to Liam Salter, who worked himself some space to break through down the right to score, with Dixon adding the extras to seal a 14-2 win in the Capital.