THE University of York sport teams enjoyed a successful round of fixtures in the Northern Conference Cup.

The cup is an additional competition as part of the British Universities and Colleges Sports programme.

And York’s four competing home teams successfully battled through into the quarter-finals, three of which had to go to extra time – providing a test of endurance for the netball, football and women’s hockey teams. The women’s hockey firsts followed on from a highly successful season to claim victory over Durham thirds on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time and no goals in extra time.

York went 1-0 down but fought back with Jill Mercer expertly controlling the ball in mid-air to equalise.

The victory was snatched on penalties with co-captain Hannah Gage scoring the decisive flick for the penalty scoresheet to read 3-2 to the home side.

The fact Durham are in a division higher than York in the BUCS league made it a result to savour for the hosts.

The men’s firsts football team overcame Hull 4-3 thanks to a Tom Brandreth header in the first period of extra time.

The team had gone behind on three occasions and showed great determination to come back and win the tie.

Arguably the most important equaliser came from winger Dan Jones, who made it 3-3 at the end of the 90 minutes.

Matters were less dramatic in the women’s badminton, with York’s second team overcoming Leeds thirds 5-3.

The tie was on a knife-edge at 3-3 going into the two final doubles matches.

Cowell and Hainsworth demolished their opponents 21-11 and 21-13 to give York a crucial 4-3 advantage.

Farrington and Breare had a closer encounter but still managed to win both their games 21-15 and 21-19 to secure progress to the quarter-finals.

York also showed their prowess in table tennis, with the seconds ousting their Leeds counterparts 13-4.

Mike Holmes triumphed in three matches – 3-2, 3-0 and 3-1 – showing a complete array of shots to befuddle his opponents.