Darren Bellerby has cursed his luck after seeing several of his key players stricken out of action for the weekend defeats to Sheffield Spartans and Billingham Stars.

Although injuries left him with gaping holes in his first and second lines, Darren was pleased with his depleted side’s battling performance in a noble defeat to league leaders Billingham Stars.

“The injuries didn’t help us,” said Darren.

“We were without seven players and we missed them, especially Richard Slater and Mikey Rodger.

“Mikey is a big impact player and Richard is up there in the top ten scorers in the league so when you’re missing players like that it’s going to have a knock on effect, but we dug in and the players out there did well. I can’t fault the lads because they worked hard.

“After the Sheffield performance we needed to come out battling and we did. I know we’ve got guys missing but that’s no excuse. We still had as many players as them, although we haven’t got the quality.

“Key players are missing but what’s worrying is that it’s the third game in a row where we’ve been shut out. We are lacking up front so as soon as we get Richard back the better.”

Despite the positives drawn from the Billingham performance, Saturday’s embarrassing collapse in Sheffield made the Barons look but a shadow of the side that had taken some major scalps over the course of the season.

He added: “I didn’t even recognise my players out there; it was like a bunch of strangers.

“There was no hunger for the puck; there was no desire to win. You take those two factors out of any team and you’re looking at an 8-0 drubbing.”

Darren hopes to have several of his key men back in action for the weekend’s away double header with Coventry Blaze and Whitley Warriors. Saturday’s trip to the Skydome is the word on everyone’s lips in what is a make or break game for the Barons in the battle against relegation.

“Mikey is on too many tablets after his injury so he won’t be back and Phil Knight has had an operation on his shoulder so he’s out for the rest of the season.

He continued: “I’m hoping to have Richard Slater back next week and Dale White will possibly be back. Andy Ayres should be back too after illness so we should have a bit of our fire power back.

“They’re all big players to miss in the dressing room and on the bench so it’ll be good to get them all back as soon as possible.”

“Coventry is going to be a tough one, but they’re struggling down there at the bottom as well, so they’re not out the mud yet and we’re still battling to stay up.”