Barnsley FC Ladies believe they can get to the Women's Super League in the future after they secured promotion this week to reach the fourth tier of the sport.

The Reds won 3-0 at Oughtibridge – their tenth successive victory in all competitions – to clinch the North East League title on goal difference and gain the only promotion spot into the FA Women's Premier League Division One North.

They are now hoping to gain a second successive promotion into the Northern Division, which is one level below the Women's Super League Two. Barnsley – who are also in their League Cup final later this month – are based at Oakwell and affiliated with the men's team, who they are hoping to emulate by reaching at least the second tier.

Manager Ian Clark said: "To compare it to men's football, it is like we are coming out of non-league and going into League Two. I don't see any reason why we can't be competing for at least the Women's Super League Two, at least, in the future. The facilities are already in place at Oakwell.

"Sheffield FC have got there after building their way up and we can do the same.  We will have to make sure we get the finances right. Notts County have just folded and we don't want that to happen to us.

"We can't get any help from Barnsley FC financially, they are putting all their resources into competing in the Championship which is fair enough.  We have a good relationship with them and they are helping us with facilities and analysis, and hopefully we can play some games on the Oakwell pitch in the future.

"Our money will have to come from getting sponsors on board, which we are working on at the moment.  It's also about raising the profile of the team. I speak to some people around the town and they don't even know Barnsley has a women's team. But hopefully the success we have had will raise our profile, and so will the reaction of the men's players with Marc Roberts (Reds captain) tweeting to congratulate us."

Clark is not ruling out back-to-back promotions. He said: "Brighouse pipped us to promotion last season and they have finished mid-table in the league above. We are probably on par with them, if not a better team.  We don't want to go and make the numbers up or finish in mid-table. We want to challenge for promotion next season.

"We will have to make two or three signings and we have some enquiries already from players who play at higher levels. We need to keep hold of the players we have got because big clubs will be looking at them."

The Reds won 3-0 at mid-table Oughtibridge on Sunday, with the goals coming from Brittany Sanderson, Rebecca Fevers and Kathryn Smith. Laura Shepherd was player of the match. They finished on the same number of points as Norton and Stockton Ancients, but won the league because their goal difference was 33 higher.

Barnsley lost three games before Christmas and Norton looked likely to finish first but lost their final game 3-0 at third-placed Castleford to allow the Oakwell club to take the title.

Clark said: "We've got out of jail, but the team that finishes top always deserves to win the league. It's been a rollercoaster season but the girls have got promotion so they deserve credit.  We didn't play as well as we can at Oughtibridge.  We were very nervy and Oughtibridge were dogged and gave it everything, but we played a lot better in the second half and got the result we needed."

Clark's team now play in the League Cup final against Wallsend at Wilberfoss near York on May 21. He said: "It would be great to end the season with another trophy. We are hoping to organise a couple of friendlies before then to keep the players fresh."