THERE’s no place like home for Barrow AFC boss Stephen Clemence.

Today’s pre-season friendly with Spanish side Real Union Club will be the first-time the head coach has led the Bluebirds out at Holker Street.

And it is certainly an occasion he is looking forward to.

He told the club’s official YouTube channel: “We’ve had a good week on the training ground and now we are looking forward to the Real Union game.

“I’m looking forward to getting to Holker Street for the first time (as head coach) and seeing the supporters.

“Obviously, we hope to put on a performance, and we hope to play well.

“We are not where we want to be yet, we are still working hard to do one or two things behind the scenes, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting there.

“I think the boys will be looking forward to play on our home patch again.”

The game against Real will be something of step into the unknown for Barrow, but Clemence says his main focus remains firmly on his side.

He added: “I don’t know a great deal about them, but I know that Unai Emery has got something to do with the team (the Aston Villa boss is the club's owner and his brother Igor is president).

“I’ve managed to get a little bit of footage on them and get an idea how they play, but it will be a tricky game. They are playing in the third tier in Spain, so it won’t be easy.

“It will give us another good work-out, we will get more minutes in the boys, and we will be in a better position for having played another game.

“I think they have got a very good defensive shape, and like any Spanish team they’ve got some technically good players, so it will be a tricky test.

“The footage I’ve got isn’t great, so I can’t say I’ve studied them in depth, but I’ve got an idea how they will play.

“But it’s not about what they do. I want to focus on what we can do, and what we will try to get out of the game, so that will be the main focus of myself, and what we try to give the boys to do against them.”

Barrow’s pre-season preparations were impacted earlier this week when Stockport County pulled out of Tuesday night’s game at Holker Street.

Clemence admitted that the late decision wasn’t ideal, but says he did manage to adapt the week’s training.

He said: “Obviously it was disappointing to have the Stockport game called off and I’m sure the supporters are disappointed, because they were probably looking forward to getting back to Holker Street and seeing the boys play.

“These things happen, and we couldn’t do anything about it, but we managed to have a 60-minute game between ourselves at the training ground, which gave me an opportunity to look at a couple of different things, and that was very beneficial.”