BARROW AFC head coach Stephen Clemence says the hard work is continuing on and off the pitch as they move into the second week of pre-season.

Clemence, sporting director Iain Wood and the club’s recruitment team have continued to work hard through the summer to bring in new faces.

And speaking after the Bluebirds first pre-season game – a 5-1 win away to Holker Old Boys AFC at the weekend – the head coach says that work on and off the pitch is ongoing.

He told the club’s official YouTube Channel: “Everybody did well (against Old Boys), there were players playing in different positions that they are not used to, but needs must at the moment, and I spoke to the boys about that.

“We obviously know we have got to do some work on recruitment, and we are still working hard on that.”

Clemence was pleased with what Barrow got from the clash against Old Boys.

He added: “The plan was to get everyone 45 minutes football.

“Full credit to Holker Old Boys I thought they had a right go, and I though they put a lot of effort in.

“Obviously it took us a while to get on top.

“It was a difficult day with the conditions, and I think we will have a lot of days up here when it’s windy and I know that because I’ve been here before, but they lads have just had a tough week’s training, and the most important thing for me this week was to get everybody through it without any injuries and we’ve done that.

“The only one that missed out (against Old Boys) was Sam, but he’s not injured he’s actually done some more work and he’s looking to get ready to play possibly this week.”

Having only had one week working with his new players before Saturday’s friendly, Clemence insisted it was more about the run out rather than everything clicking first off.

He said: “I thought in the second half some of the ideas were coming out.

“The first half was very difficult, it was blowing a gale, and obviously there are certain things that we haven’t even worked on yet.

“We pretty much had one day working ball in possession on Thursday and it was some ideas that weren’t that complicated to be honest.

“It was actually more giving them a touch of the balls, getting them doing some crossing and finishing, that kind of thing.

“Obviously we’ve got another full week this week. There will be some physical work, but the physical becomes less and we start playing more football and then obviously you can implement more ideas.

“We haven’t even got working on any pressing yet or anything like that.

“I kind of said before the lads started training, at the Fans’ Forum ‘don’t read too much into this game tactically or anything like that’ because it was going to be a physical work out, and we got that out of it.”