Clemence out to prove point to Gillingham

Stephen Clemence was in charge of Gillingham for just 34 games

Barrow head coach Stephen Clemence says he will return to former club Gillingham with a point to prove to his former employers.

Clemence left the GiIls in April less than six months after he had been appointed, as they finished 12th in League Two.

Now he returns with Barrow on Saturday (15:00 BST) in a match between the division's top two.

"When I lost my job that day, I wanted to go back to Gillingham and compete against them with a team that is capable, and I believe I've got that," he told BBC Radio Cumbria.

Gillingham finished six points outside the play-offs last season, five points and four places below Barrow.

Both sides having accrued 16 points from the first seven games of this campaign, with the Bluebirds top having scored one more goal.

Clemence and Barrow have started the season well, including the trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

And there has been enough good things happening for Clemence to be happy in his next choice of job.

"When I was relieved of my duties, I got in my car and I got on the phone to my wife and said I need to get anther job soon and go and prove these people wrong," he said.

"There were a couple of opportunities as soon as I lost my job, but they were jobs that didn't really interest me.

"There was one on the coaching side and two on the management side, but once I had the call that Barrow wanted to speak to me I was really, really interested.

"There were decent players at the club and I felt we could recruit some more who could compete at this level."