diff --git a/src/main/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithub.java b/src/main/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithub.java
index de03bef34..40b571beb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithub.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithub.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Iterator;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import javax.json.JsonObject;
 import lombok.EqualsAndHashCode;
@@ -169,7 +168,7 @@ private String token(final String home, final String code)
         final String uri = new Href(this.github)
             .path(PsGithub.LOGIN).path("oauth").path(PsGithub.ACCESS_TOKEN)
             .toString();
-        final List<String> tokens = new JdkRequest(uri)
+        return new JdkRequest(uri)
             .method("POST")
             .header("Accept", "application/xml")
             .body()
@@ -181,13 +180,10 @@ private String token(final String home, final String code)
             .fetch().as(RestResponse.class)
             .assertStatus(HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK)
             .as(XmlResponse.class)
-            .xml().xpath("/OAuth/access_token/text()");
-        if (tokens.isEmpty()) {
-            throw new HttpException(
-                HttpURLConnection.HTTP_BAD_REQUEST, "No access token"
-            );
-        }
-        return tokens.get(0);
+            .assertXPath("/OAuth/access_token")
+            .xml()
+            .xpath("/OAuth/access_token/text()")
+            .get(0);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithubTest.java b/src/test/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithubTest.java
index 3c7b62139..72d5ece98 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithubTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/takes/facets/auth/social/PsGithubTest.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
-import org.takes.HttpException;
 import org.takes.Request;
 import org.takes.Response;
 import org.takes.Take;
@@ -96,8 +95,7 @@ public final class PsGithubTest {
      */
     @Test
     public void failsOnNoAccessToken() throws IOException {
-        this.thrown.expect(HttpException.class);
-        this.thrown.expectMessage("No access token");
+        this.thrown.expect(AssertionError.class);
         this.performLogin(PsGithubTest.directiveWithoutAccessToken());
     }