BARROW AFC boss Stephen Clemence says his side will have to earn the right to play it their way in today’s derby clash.

The Bluebirds host struggling Morecambe at Holker Street (kick-off 3pm).

The two sides are currently fighting it out at opposite ends of the League Two Table, with Barrow currently sit third on the same points as the top two, while tomorrow’s visitors are rock bottom.

But having seen footage of their games, Clemence isn’t taking anything for granted.

He said: “There’s a local rivalry and the fans will be expecting the boys to be all guns blazing, and that’s what we will try to give them.

“Look Morecambe are at the bottom at the moment, and we are in the top three, but what we can’t have is people just turn up and think it is going to be easy, because no game is easy.

“And if we don’t prepare properly, and we don’t go about our jobs properly we will be in for a very difficult afternoon.

“I watched footage of Morecambe on my day off, and look they have drew quite a few games, and they have taken points off some very good teams that are up and around us.

“We are going to have to be physically ready for them. They will put the ball forward and they will try to play in certain territories, and we will have to deal with long throws into the box, deep crosses, second balls and we will have to be up for that fight.

“But then once we compete, we’ve then got to make sure we don’t just play that way ourselves.

“We’ve got to make sure that we take control of the football ourselves and try to play our game.”

Clemence admits it isn’t always easy not to get dragged into another side’s style of play, but has confidence in his squad.

He added: “It’s really difficult, because when you are trying to win the ball back as a football player it can be quite frantic.

“Your intensity has to be high to put people under pressure, but then once you win that ball back, you’ve actually then got to go calm, and slow down yourself and slow your mind down to pick the right pass.

“Now I’ve been there myself, sometimes you are working that hard to get the ball back, you win it back and you are still playing quick, and you don’t calm your brain down

“So you try and go calm and there is a lot of pressure around you.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, but we have got players that are capable of doing that.”