London Broncos 20 Leeds Rhinos 21: Brodie Croft proof that lightning strikes twice as visitors get out of jail

For the second time this year, the Rhinos were outenthused by lowly London Broncos and needed a golden-point drop goal from Croft to get them out of jail.

Croft's late intervention gave Leeds a 21-20 victory that they did not deserve but one that kept them in touch with the top six.

Brad Arthur's side are now just one point adrift of the play-off positions with three rounds remaining after completing back-to-back wins for the first time on his watch, yet have never looked as far away from competing with the title contenders as they did during arguably their worst performance of the campaign.

Leeds made error after error in the capital and used up a season's worth of fortune to stay in the contest before Croft broke London's hearts once again.

But for the contribution of Rhyse Martin, who scored the rest of the Rhinos' points including a hat-trick, the visitors would have been deservedly beaten by the plucky Broncos.

The talismanic forward became just the 12th player in Leeds' long history to score 1,000 points for the club when he kicked his third goal.

Martin stood tall on an afternoon when others shrunk but his man-of-the-match performance underlined how much he will be missed when he joins Hull KR at the end of the year.

In the here and now, the Rhinos must find a way to improve on a display that highlighted how much work is still to be done to make the play-offs let alone threaten the top sides.

London showed what they can offer the top flight in what may have been their last Super League game on home soil for some time, albeit against a generous Leeds outfit.

The Rhinos set the tone for a ragged performance in the early stages with two penalties giving the Broncos the field position to open the scoring through Jack Campagnolo, the half-back stepping his way over next to the posts.

It took Leeds five minutes to respond with the help of a relieving penalty.

Croft sent a deft kick through and the bounce wrongfooted Josh Rourke to allow Martin to finish.

The back-rower improved his own try and added a penalty following a high tackle by Rhys Kennedy.

After turning down a similar opportunity minutes earlier, the change of approach was as much down to Leeds' poor ball control as London's defensive work.

The decision was vindicated with a series of errors in Broncos territory to the disbelief of the travelling supporters in the away end.

The Rhinos extended their lead thanks to a rare moment of quality, Martin racing through to beat Rourke to Matt Frawley's chip over the top.

Martin's landmark conversion gave Leeds an eight-point lead as half-time approached but they made one mistake too many.

Paul Momirovski lost the ball coming away from his own line to give London one last opportunity and they took it.

Jarrod O'Connor denied Oli Leyland with a last-ditch effort but Leeds could not hold out, Emmanuel Waine going over under the posts from Campagnolo's deflected kick.

After seeing Leyland knock over the conversion with the last act of the half, Leeds survived a series of scares at the start of the second period.

Lachie Miller denied Leyland with a try-saving tackle before Waine was stopped close to the line and Hakim Miloudi lost the ball in the corner.

At the other end, Cameron Smith was held up and Momirovski spilt the ball over the line in an increasingly low-quality affair.

The Rhinos had another let-off when Rourke’s try was ruled out for offside but London eventually found a way through, Lee Kershaw finishing Campagnolo's long pass after outfoxing Alfie Edgell.

Leeds deservedly found themselves behind and there was little evidence that they could turn the tide.

Once again, Martin was the man to pull something out of the bag for his side.

If Leeds were fortunate to force a drop-out following a wayward high kick by Croft, there was nothing lucky about Martin's third try as the Papua New Guinea captain ran a strong line to take the half-back's pass and race over under the posts.

The Rhinos never convinced, though, and were in danger of losing the game in 80 minutes when Kershaw raced away down the right flank and got away an offload before the sideline that was finished by Ethan Natoli.

Leeds were saved by the width of a post to the despair of Leyland and saw Campagnolo send a drop-goal attempt wide in a frantic finish.

Campagnolo rattled the crossbar with another effort from long range before Leyland sent one wide himself.

The Rhinos cleaned up the errors in extra time and were eventually rewarded with one minute remaining when Croft held his nerve to slot over a one-pointer and spare the away side's blushes.

London Broncos: Rourke, Kershaw, Natoli, Bassett, Miloudi, Leyland, Campagnolo, Butler, Davis, Kennedy, Lovell, Adebiyi, Stock. Substitutes: Tison, Bienek, Jones, Waine.

Tries: Campagnolo (6), Waine (40), Kershaw (56), Natoli (75)

Goals: Leyland 2/4

Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Fusitu'a, Momirovski, Newman, Edgell, Croft, Frawley, Lisone, Ackers, Sangare, McDonnell, Martin, Smith. Substitutes: Nicholson-Watton, Bentley, O'Connor, Donaldson.

Tries: Martin (11, 34, 63)

Goals: Martin 4/4

Drop goal: Croft (89)

Referee: Marcus Griffiths.