San Franciso 49ers 24 - 16 Denvor Broncos: 49ers mine a rich vein in final quarter to beat Broncos

After a miserable first half, the game came to life after the break with three quick touchdowns from the 49ers in the final quarter turning a 10-3 deficit into victory. In the NFL's fourth visit to London for a regular-season game, the two teams, two of the worst in the league, cancelled out one another's ineptitude for most of the game, but just when the Wembley crowd was about to give up on them, the night came to life.

Stand-in 49ers quarterback Troy Smith ran in one touchdown before throwing for another, and Frank Gore, the 49ers workhorse all night, then got his reward with a score.

A late Broncos rally then fell short to give the 49ers their second win in eight games this season, matching the Broncos' record of 2-6. The tone for the first half was set when neither team managed to get a first down on their opening drive.

This was not the high-octane game that New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers gave us two years ago, or even the show put on by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots last year.

Where they were once part of offences that ate up yards against any opposition, neither team could get anything going early on, with the only points of the first half coming on Joe Nedney's 34-yard field goal for San Francisco.

Not that this seemed to dim the enthusiasm of another full house of 83,941 at Wembley.

But just when fans were wondering if anything was going to happen, the game exploded into life with Denver quarterback Kyle Orton's 71-yard pass to Brandon Lloyd early in the second half stopping short only one-yard shy of the end zone.

Moments later, young quarterback Tim Tebow carried the ball over for his second career touchdown. The 49ers looked set for a quick response, only to see Nedney's 52-yard field goal attempt come back off the upright.

Denver had clearly used the half-time break to dig deep through their playbook in search of ideas, and thought they had another touchdown with a well-executed 'flea-flicker' pass finding Jabar Gaffney in the end zone at the end of the third quarter, only for it to be brought back for a penalty against Knowshon Moreno.

Instead, they had to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Matt Prater. The 49ers then found some inspiration from an unlikely source.Scrambling under pressure, Smith - fighting for his future in the league - completed a 38-yard pass to Chris Bailey and then completed a one-yard run himself to score the game-tying touchdown.

Minutes later, they completed the stunning turnaround when Smith threw to Michael Crabtree for a second touchdown pass.

The Broncos implosion continued when Orton's pass was intercepted, and the 49ers completed the turnaround when Gore crossed for another touchdown. The first-half was by now a distant memory and the Broncos had ideas about their own rally.

Orton's one-yard pass found Lloyd in the end zone, but Prater missed the extra point to make it 24-16.