London Broncos’ interim head coach thanked Ebbsfleet United Football Club for their hospitality after staging back-to-back games at their stadium.

On Sunday, Mike Eccles’ side were beaten 22-42 at the Kuflink Stadium in the Betfred Championship by promotion hopefuls Featherstone Rovers.

The Broncos - playing on-the-road games while their home ground is undergoing routine pitch maintenance - beat Sheffield Eagles in a thriller the week before and Eccles hopes both fixtures have inspired more people living in the south-east to make rugby league their sport of choice.

Eccles said: “Ebbsfleet have been fantastic to us, a huge thank you to Damian (Irvine the Ebbsfleet chief exec) and everyone connected to the club for the warm welcome.

“It’s been fantastic to play our two most recent home fixtures here, it really does feel like a home from home. But it will be equally great to return to Wimbledon in a fortnight

following another big game on the road to Bradford this Saturday.”

Despite defeat on Sunday there was some cheer for the Broncos fans as Dean Parata and Alex Walker crossed the whitewash while Dalton Grant registered a late brace to add some consolation to the final score.

Without first-team players Jude Ferreira, Lewis Bienek, Brock Pelligra, Jordan Williams and Brad Foster, Eccles was forced to play an unconventional XIII with several members of his squad playing out of position.

Reacting after the final hooter, Eccles said: “I’m gutted for the lads, they were brilliant.

“We’ve got some bits to fix up as always, but it was a huge effort. We were patched up and had a lot of injuries, some of the lads had to play in roles outside of their normal position. But the effort was there, it just wasn’t quite enough.

“We’ll fix up what we need to and be better for it. Featherstone are a quality side.

“There is a reason why Rovers and Leigh and running away at the top of the table, which is where we want to be and where we believe we can be.

“On another day, we’re confident we could run Featherstone close.”