THE body language of the Giants players said it all as they walked off the Griffin Park pitch with heads held low.
Defeat for Huddersfield means a place in the Super League play-offs for the first time has now virtually disappeared.
But it was the manner of the loss rather than its consequences on the race to secure that top-six spot that hit the players hard.
The Giants gave it their best shot in a bid to beat their main play-off rivals, but in the end it simply wasn't their day - and for a whole host of reasons.
For a start, the visitors made far too many errors at crucial stages to turn the screw on their hosts, while the Broncos themselves created several crisp passages of play and on three occasions finished with four-pointers.
Yet the big question is how many of those three tries should have been allowed?
Yes, all three were superbly crafted and deserved to be scored by a winning team.
But with a major question mark hanging over all three, was it any wonder that the Giants were feeling so low.
The opening London try after seven minutes set the scene.
After Chris Thorman had given his side the lead with a fifth-minute penalty, Paul Sykes' restart looked to be sailing towards the Giants' deadball line.
To ensure that happened, Eorl Crabtree cleverly took the ball on the full in the in-goal area, with one foot planted out of play.
That should have meant a penalty to the Giants' on halfway.
But instead, match referee Richard Silverwood ruled a drop-out under the Huddersfield posts and Nick Bradley-Qalilawa promptly scored an unconverted try in the corner.
The Giants were fuming, and despite match commissioner John Connolly trying to convince those in the press box that the decision was right, it didn't work.
After all, when Stuart Fielden did exactly the same for Bradford when they played at the Giants in front of the Sky TV cameras in June, a penalty was awarded to the Bulls!
Unfortunately, the Giants weren't quite so lucky and they found themselves behind for the first time.
Inspirational former Bronco Thorman did nudge his side back in front with two more penalties in the 23rd and 26th minutes.
But seven minutes before the break, Huddersfield were again undone as fortune favoured the hosts.
This time, the Broncos got the benefit of doubt with a forward pass as Feleti Mateo's beautiful reverse tryscoring ball to Zeb Luisi was allowed and Paul Sykes converted.
What a shame, then, that the same benefit of doubt wasn't given to Brad Drew when his tryscoring pass to Paul March was ruled forward in the 17th minute!
However, despite the setbacks, the Giants remained very much in the hunt at 10-6 down at the break.
And within 10 minutes of the restart, they hit the front for the third time.
The ball was kept alive superbly on halfway, eventually finding its way to Stanley Gene, who burst clear in typically explosive fashion.
The Papua New Guinean then fed full-back Paul Reilly and found the supporting Thorman to race in by the posts.
Thorman tagged on the extras and the visitors had a 12-10 lead.
Unfortunately, that lead proved fairly shortlived and nine minutes later the Broncos scored what was to be the matchwinning try.
From a scrum 30m from the Giants line, the ball was worked to the left for Sykes to make ground and feed Jon Wells with another forward-looking pass.
Once again, however, the try stood and Sykes banged over the extras.
Huddersfield did exert further pressure on the Broncos' line, but on far too many occasions spilt the ball at vital times.
It just summed up the contest.
This just wasn't going to be the Giants day!
