BARROW AFC head coach Stephen Clemence was pleased with his side’s battle against Spanish side Real Union Club.

The Bluebirds shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw with the Basque outfit, and Clemence felt there were plenty of positives to take.

Speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel he said: “I felt it went really well. I thought the first half we played some really good stuff.

“We scored a really good goal with Connor (Mahoney).

“Obviously we are disappointed to let them back in the game from a set play, but I thought as far as what we’ve been working on some good stuff came out.

“I think it was a good work out. I think the second half, obviously we made some changes and we had to change the shape more because of personnel rather than me trying to get too clever or anything like that.

“It was just the players we had, we had to change the shape a little bit and we went ahead again, and unfortunately, we’ve let them back in again.

“But I thought it was a great work out because it was a really hot day and it was a different kind of opposition to what we’ve played so far, and there will be opposition like that in League Two.

“So the boys had to work hard and then press to get the ball back, and Real Union made the pitch as big as possible and gave us some problems.

“But I thought we dealt with them quite well and on another day, we probably could have scored four or five goals.

“It wasn’t meant to be, but definitely a lot more positives.”

Clemence felt Real Union provided his side with the kind of test they needed as they close in on the start of the new league campaign.

He added: “We’ve obviously tried to vary the opposition that we’ve played against throughout the whole of the pre-season fixtures.

“Unfortunately, we lost a game (Stockport County pulled out of the clash due to be last Tuesday), but that (the Real Union match) was the type of game that we will see in League Two, because there are teams that are expansive and do test you, and you find solutions to these problems.

“I thought we did that well, and we stopped them playing and controlling the game, and once we got hold of it, I thought we controlled the game well at times.

“I think our patterns that we work on quite a lot in training, we started to see a few of those come out, so as I say I’m pleased with that and I’m pleased that the boys I have had another good run out, and the boys have got more minutes in the tank, and we’ve still got two games to go.”

One of the most pleasing aspects for the Barrow boss was the performances of attacker Katia Kouyate and Connor Mahoney, who joined the club this summer.

He said: “We brought Katia into the club, and Katia can play all across the frontline really. He can play right, left or through the middle.

“I felt (against Real Union) it was the first time we’d seen him on the left-hand side, and he really showed some good pace and power. He gave a very good performance, and he can be pleased with himself.

“I know what Connor Mahoney can do, and I think at times the full-back didn’t know where he was in the first half when he was twisting and turning, but there was some really good stuff from Connor, and I’m really pleased to see that he’s got off the mark.”