Troy turns the Broncos into wooden horses

Stand-in quarterback Troy Smith steered the San Francisco 49ers to a 24-16 home' win over the Denver Broncos at Wembley Stadium.

Smith, making his first NFL start in nearly three years, ran for his team's first touchdown in the fourth quarter and completed a 28-yard pass to wide receiver Michael Crabtree for their second as the 49ers improved their record to 2-6 as the official home team for the game.

Their fans back home are far from happy with just two wins from eight games this season but the 49ers would surely love to play in front of a Wembley home crowd every other week judging by the reception they received from the 83,941 fans.

A poor first half saw the 49ers lead the Broncos
3-0 with just a field goal but the match then came to life. Denver looked as though they would take control when they hit back with a touchdown and were looking at a 14-3 lead only for a touchdown to be disallowed and had to settle for a field goal on that drive for 10-3 instead.

This call lifted the 49ers and Smith, handed his chance by an injury to regular passer Alex Smith, completed a 38-yard pass to Chris Bailey and move San Francisco to one yard from the endzone. Smith then ran in the touchdown himself and within minutes completed another pass to Crabtree to put the 49ers in control.

When Frank Gore crossed for a third touchdown soon after, it was virtually all over.

Denver, now 2 and 6, tried to rally and scored a late touchdown but crucially missed the extra point kick, which would have meant them having to score a touchdown with a two-point conversion just to level the game with two minutes left.