INJURIES, illness and unavailability hampered Easingwold HellCats’ hopes of success at the Rock-It-Ball UK Club Championships in Scotland.

A skeleton squad of four made the trip north of the border with Sara Cooper captaining a team also consisting of James Ashbridge, Marcus Exelby and Liam Leckenby.

But a further blow was then dealt to Hellcats during their opening fixture against eventual winners Falkirk Cannon when Cooper badly twisted her knee.

The referee, seeing Cooper’s distress, ordered HellCats to forfeit the game and, with just three players, they also had to give their next opponents a walkover.

But, against medical advice, Cooper returned for the final game against Coatbridge Enigma and helped pull off a heroic 221-199 win against Coatbridge Enigma.

HellCats finished fourth.