PENDLE Forest Ladies Hockey team have made it back-to-back titles after stretching their incredible unbeaten run to 73 matches spanning three and half seasons.

The all-conquering Pendle team sealed promotion to the North Hockey Women’s League Premier Division with a 6-1 win at Didsbury Greys then clinched the title with a convincing 11-1 win over Leeds Adel - now it is all about going through another entire campaign with an unbeaten record.

Pendle completed part one of that goal with a hard-fought 1-0 win at the City of York on Sunday and they host the same team this weekend knowing a victory would make it 22 games without defeat to cap another remarkable championship-winning season.

Captain Dani Hornby has had something of a watching brief this season having given birth to her second child, Matthew, just three weeks ago.

And it has been something of a double family celebration for the Hornbys as husband Scott is also the Pendle Forest head coach.

“It is an outstanding achievement to secure back-to-back promotions especially when you consider that, having played in a league of a higher standard, we haven’t yet lost a game,” said Dani.

“I am incredibly proud of this group of players and look forward to playing in North Prem next season.

“With one league match still to go we are unbeaten in 73 league matches over the course of three and a half seasons - this is a record that will never be matched again and I am very happy to have played a small part of it.

“My thanks go to the players, supporters, our manager Scott Hornby and the Pendle Forest committee all of whom have contributed to our success.

“Here’s to next season!”

Dani admitted Pendle were not at the best in the narrow win at York, a game settled by Hayley Baines’ scrappy goal early in the second half.

Forest also hit the post three times but keeper Laura Kendall had to be at her best to keep the home team at bay while Pendle’s plight wasn’t helped as they had Lisa Crewe sent off just five minutes into the second half for dissent.

It was a lot more routine the previous week as Pendle showed their class with a thumping 11-1 win over Leeds Ardel with former England international, Charlotte Hartley, and Freya Bythell both scoring hat-tricks.

Karen Wignall (2), Thea Cormack, Olivia Purtill and Hayley Baines were also on target.