Issue with $httpbackend while testing Angular Controler with Karma-Jasmine

Question

I put the code in a fiddle so it can be easily updated and 'worked with' if needed.

describe('PlayersListCtrl', function() {  // Jasmine Test Suite

    beforeEach(module('wc2014App'));

    var ctrl, scope, $httpBackend;

    beforeEach(inject(function($controller, $rootScope) {

        scope = $rootScope.$new();

        ctrl = $controller('PlayersListCtrl', {
            $scope: scope
        });
    }));

    it('should have an empty player array', function() { 
        expect(scope.players.length).toBe(0);
    });

    describe('PlayersListCtrl', function() {
        var $httpBackend, $rootScope, createController;

        beforeEach(inject(function($injector) {
            $httpBackend = $injector.get('$httpBackend');
            $httpBackend.when('GET', '../app/stubs/players.json').respond(
                {userId: 'userX'}, 
                {'A-Token': 'xxx'});

            $rootScope = $injector.get('$rootScope');
            var $controller = $injector.get('$controller');

            createController = function() {
                return $controller('PlayersListCtrl', {'$scope' : $rootScope });
            };
        }));

        afterEach(function() {
            $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingExpectation();
            $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingRequest();
        });

        it('should fetch authentication token', function() {
            $httpBackend.expectGET('../app/stubs/players.json');
            var controller = createController();
            $httpBackend.flush();
        });
    });
});

The rest, cause its quite verbose, is in the fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/tLte2/

Basically the first test passes, not a hard one, but the second one depends on a JSON stub and gives errors like: PhantomJS 1.9.7 (Mac OS X) PlayersListCtrl PlayersListCtrl should fetch authentication token FAILED Error: No pending request to flush !

Cant seem to get a grip on how this $httpBackend stiff works. Is must be possible to just fire it and set the result in the scope of the controller?

--edit Basically got everything wired up perfectly and can do some simple tests that run just fine, however getting JSON stub data in there seems to be a pain. Workaround can be just defining the array described in the the JSON on the controller scope like: controller.players = ['one','two','three',..... etc ......] But that doesnt feel right. That $httpBackend stuff shouldn't be that hard to fix right?