WHEN York City Knights defeated Whitehaven last month, the result seemed to all but confirm that London Broncos would be the team to take the final Betfred Championship play-off spot.

Since then though, Whitehaven have rallied to record three straight wins over Widnes Vikings (64-6), Batley Bulldogs (14-22) and Halifax Panthers (19-6).

London’s defeat at home to second-placed Featherstone Rovers meant that the Broncos are in need of a final day victory at the LNER Community Stadium over York to be 100 per cent sure of a top six finish.

While the introduction of points percentage can make the league standings difficult to visualise, the permutations are as follows.

Should London win against the Knights, Whitehaven would be unable to make play-offs.

If London can only manage a draw against the Knights, Whitehaven would be able to overtake them with a victory away at Bradford Bulls.

Were London to be defeated by York, either a draw or a win for Whitehaven at Odsal would mean they would place into the Championship’s next stage.

While few are expecting the capital club to finish the season as winners of the play-offs, with either Toulouse Olympique or Featherstone Rovers likely to prevail in that particular battle, a top six finish would give London some hope amid a difficult season both on and off the field.

Since relegation back to the Championship in 2019, despite some heroics in their sole Super League campaign, London have lost several key players, seen head coach Danny Ward depart and their crowd tumble.

The announcement last week that the Broncos would become part-time from 2022 further underlined their struggles.

Despite that, like in 2018, London still have the chance of upsetting the favourites and qualifying for the top flight. But first things first is a win against York.