AFTER his birthday celebrations were buoyed by a win at Leigh, club captain Matt Hughes is backing Kirkby Lonsdale to go unbeaten for the remainder of the campaign.

Victory in Greater Manchester saw the Underley Park side claim only their second away success of the season but more significantly their third win on the spin.

And the 30-year-old second row is looking to enhance that statistic when Liverpool St. Helens visit this weekend – with the Merseysiders currently one place above the relegation zone.

“We’ve set ourselves the target of going unbeaten for the rest of the season and apart from Widnes all our opponents are below us.

“There is no reason why we can’t achieve this goal although Widnes at home will be tough – we need to put right the hammering they gave us at their place – and Wigton is also a tricky place to go.

“But the aim last Saturday was to make it three successive wins and get the five points to hopefully leapfrog Vale of Lune and thankfully we got there in the end.

“Three wins hasn’t happened too many times down the years, especially against quality sides such as Kendal, Vale and Leigh – nobody likes going to Leigh even though they’re second bottom.

“We have Liverpool St. Helens next and will have three lads back in the pack who were missing last match so there are no excuses.”

The prospect of a third successive victory looked bleak after quarter of an hour on Saturday, with Hughes and Co. conceding four early tries to trail 26-0.

However, six Kirkby touchdowns in the second-half paved the way for an impressive comeback, with Hughes delighted with the response of his charges after such an indifferent start.

“After the first try there was nothing to worry about as we’ve conceded early before and comeback but before we knew it we were 26 points down,” he added.

“I had the lads under posts at the point and asked what the hell they were playing at and where they all were.

“Nobody played well in that first 15 minutes but the determination, skill and quality of the lads we have at the moment shone through to turn it around.”