It’s a trip into the unknown for Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence this weekend. The Gills visit third-placed Barrow in League 2 this Saturday and while many of his players and coaching staff will be familiar with their surroundings, it’s going to be a new experience for the man in charge. “I’ve not been to Barrow before,” admitted Clemence. “I live in the north west and it’s still a good two and a half hours from me!
I haven’t been there but I’m looking forward to it. I’ve spoken to a number of people about it, obviously, my assistant is experienced at this level and I’ve spoken to the players about it - most of them are experienced at going to Barrow as well. “But it’s a green football pitch, it’s against 11 players, let’s go and take them on. “They’re a very tough team to play against, they’ve got some experienced players.
They’re well organised, well coached and it’s going to be a difficult game.” It’s going to be a long coach trip to Cumbria on Friday for the Gillingham squad.
But Clemence knows that his squad won’t be using that as an excuse against a side who were knocked out of the FA Cup by National League South Maidstone last Saturday. “I’ve seen this group, it won’t be an excuse,” he stated. “Barrow have got a good home record, a good record in general, in the last 11 or 12 games. “I know they had a disappointing result last weekend but 11 games before that they were unbeaten.