Jubilant Wolves are celebrating a Women’s National League triumph after being crowned Northern Premier Division champions.

Newly promoted at the start of the season, Wolves took the division by storm to set the pace from the early days of the campaign and to clinch the title with three games of their fixture list remaining.

After seeing his team lift the divisional winner’s trophy following Sunday’s 2-0 home win against Sheffield FC, manager Dan McNamara said: “The players’ attitude and application over the past 12 months have been fantastic.

“They’ve had some tough times in recent years and now they deserve every accolade they’re getting. To see them lift that trophy is my proudest moment in football and something that will stay with me forever.”

After stepping up from Division One Midlands to the third tier, and with eight new signings to integrate into their squad, Wolves hit the ground running with seven wins from their first eight matches.

The victory over Sheffield, with the goals coming from Kelly Darby and Tammy George, confirmed them as champions with a record of 17 wins and only one defeat from their 21 matches to date.

Long serving captain Anna Price, who made her first team debut 20 years ago, said: “I never dreamt I’d ever be able to say this, but we are Northern Premier League champions! It’s unbelievable and I’m so, so happy.”

To add to a superb season for Wolves, the club’s second team emphatically won the Midland Division of the reserves league – they completed their 18-match campaign undefeated and with 50 points plus a huge goal difference of 70.

McNamara added: “The reserves have been absolutely outstanding all season. Put that together with an excellent set of youngsters we’ve got coming through the ranks and the future for Wolves Women looks great.”

McNamara’s senior team, after playing the final two games of their Northern Premier campaign, will prepare to face the Southern Premier winners in a play-off for promotion to the Championship.

But before even thinking about what will be the biggest game in the three and a half years that the manager has been in charge at Wolves, there was a match at the club’s famous Molineux stadium on to contemplate.

A crowd of 2,447 turned out for Wolves Women’s first competitive match at Molineux in 20 years, and following the 2-2 draw with Brighouse, there were able to join in the title-winning celebrations with McNamara’s team.

He said: “It was a fantastic turnout. The crowd were amazing. I said to the girls we won it long before this night, I’m just delighted, and I hope they enjoyed it. They made it a good atmosphere and got a couple of goals to celebrate as well. Thank you to everyone who came out. We hope we’ve enticed a few more to get themselves down to Castlecroft over the coming seasons.

“I say week in, week out, I’m proud to call them players and friends. They’ve been an amazing group. They constantly find a way and tonight was all about not getting beat. I’m delighted to be the manager of such a fantastic football club and to have some fantastic players in and around me, so onwards and upwards and we look to go again.”