Despite being hammered away from home by Premier League side Chelsea, Stephen Clemence was happy with his Barrow team following their exit in the EFL Cup.
The Bluebirds earned a momentous tie with the London club in the third round with a win over Port Vale before dispatching Championship outfit Derby County on penalties. The League Two club couldn’t prevent the two-time European Champions from dominating the game, running out 5-0 winners.
Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick, with Pedro Neto and an own goal from Paul Farman adding to The Blues’ total. Despite a tough day at Stamford Bridge, it was undoubtedly a memorable day for the club and it’s players to get the chance to face one of the bigger clubs in English football.
Discussing his side’s effort in the game, former Birmingham City midfielder Stephen Clemence said to the North West Evening Mail: “I’m really proud of the boys. It’s obviously a really difficult opponent.
“When you come to a Premier League team, they’re not just a Premier League team either, they’re a top six or seven team.
“I’ve worked and played in the Premier League and those top six or seven teams, there’s a league within itself.
“They’ve had some world-class players on the pitch. For my boys to stick in the way they did, they could have gone under, I’m really proud of them.
“They haven’t come here and disgraced themselves, they’ve given it a really good go and now it’s back to the bread and butter of the league where it’s first versus second on Saturday when we take on Gillingham.”
Clemence returns to his former club this weekend, aiming to keep the good times rolling which have lifted to the summit of League Two with seven games played so far. The trip to Kent pits the top two sides against one another, with Barrow ahead by one more goal scored.
Despite losses in the cups to Chelsea and Bolton Wanderers, the Holker Street side are unbeaten in five. Their last loss came against a struggling Carlisle United side in the Cumbrian Derby, which to date is their only league defeat this season.
On how the players embraced the chance to play against a Premier League side, the 46-year-old boss added: “As soon as the draw was made, the players were excited.
“You don’t know what team Chelsea are going to pick when you turn up, but you know it’s going to be a good one.
“Sometimes you look at the Premier League and the lower leagues and it can look like a different sport, in my opinion.
“I think my players will benefit from the experience. I can only speak from my own personal experience, but as a football player growing up you want to play at Wembley, Anfield, White Hart Lane, Stamford Bridge, whatever it is.
“No disrespect to League Two, but my players probably haven’t grown up wanting to play at Holker Street. My players love playing at our home ground and it’s fantastic that the boys have made a good career in the game, but they want to play at these big stadiums.
“They got that opportunity, seen how difficult that is and learned stuff from it. We’ll wrap them up in cotton wool now and get ready for Saturday, which is a big game for us.”
Writer’s View
There is no shame in Barrow’s loss to Chelsea. They earned their place in the third round and got a day many fans would only have dreamed of until the draw came out. Even if the scoreline was brutal, The Bluebirds squad and supporters have made memories to last a lifetime. Stephen Clemence is rightly proud of what the occasion meant and has done for the club.
The focus now is to prepare for the big clash against Gillingham this weekend. It has been a brilliant start to the season despite the change of manager from Pete Wild to Clemence, with seven wins out of his opening 10 matches. His former club in The Gills have likewise found success with Mark Bonner. The game at Priestfield is definitely the standout fixture in the fourth tier this week.
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