Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence on League 2 trip to Barrow, Oli Hawkins returning from injury and building some momentum

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. We know it’s going to be a tough test but one we should relish, we should enjoy that.”

With players returning from injury, Clemence has more selections choices to make now than in his first month at Priestfield.

The head coach confirmed striker Oli Hawkins will be part of the squad but Ashley Nadesan could miss out due to a calf