The Denver Broncos have beaten the San Diego Chargers to set up an AFC Championship clash with the New England Patriots.
The Broncos took the lead late in the first quarter after the Chargers had missed an opportunity to intercept a Peyton Manning pass.
The quarterback took full advantage of the let-off and fired a two-yard pass to the front of the endzone, where Demaryius Thomas just about caught the ball before falling back over the white line.
The Chargers missed a chance to reduce the deficit in the second quarter when Nick Novak slipped on his run-up to a field goal and sent his effort well off target.
Manning then looped a three-yard pass over to Wes Welker, who had a simple task of stepping over the line for the touchdown.
In the third quarter, Matt Prater was just able to get his field goal inside the right upright to extend the home side's advantage.
However, he failed with another attempt just before the end of the quarter for what was only his second miss of the season.
The Chargers got back into the match in the fourth quarter. A Phillip Rivers pass flew through the air before dropping to Keenan Allen for a 16-yard touchdown.
Trindon Holliday then battled his way through a number of tackles to make it to the endzone, but an illegal block meant that the play was chalked off.
Knowshon Moreno increased the Broncos' lead and Prater kicked the extra to restore the 17-point advantage.
However, the Chargers made it interesting as Allen found success with an athletic 16-yard effort, which just crossed the line.
A Novak field goal pushed the Chargers to 17 late in the quarter, but the Broncos held on.
Gary Peters
