London Broncos coach Danny Ward has added to the praise for gutsy Whitehaven.

The Cumbrians lost 36-20 after going into the last quarter still in front.

Last season the sides were two divisions apart – Broncos in Super League and Haven in League One.

“We weren’t at our best but I don’t want to take anything away from Whitehaven,” said Ward.

“They are a part-time club and the players were fantastic after dealing with the amount of travelling they’d done.

“They controlled the ball and outperformed us for long periods.”

Whitehaven had lost their opening game against Swinton and many were expecting a heavy reversal in the capital. But everyone, from both sides, was of the opinion that there were not 16 points between the two sides.

Two tries in the last t 10 minutes rather spoiled the scoreline for Haven who had led 20-18 going into the last 20 minutes.

After failing to score a point in the opening 14-0 defeat to Swinton it was encouraging that Haven scored three tries against the Broncos.

Head coach Gary Charlton and his staff will now be looking to expand on those scores when they host Oldham in Sunday’s second game at the Recreation Ground.

Oldham have a few injury concerns ahead of their trip to Cumbria and only named three substitutes for the game in France.