Barnsley will complete their 2024 fixtures with a trip to Peterborough United on Sunday from 3pm.
The Reds are seventh in the table, a point off the play-offs, after an impressive 2-1 win at Bolton on Boxing Day.
Peterborough – like Barnsley and Bolton – have lost in the play-offs for the previous two seasons but are currently ten points off the top six in 17th position.
They have lost 11 matches this season – with just the bottom four losing more – including at 2-1 at Stockport last Saturday and 3-0 at home to Mansfield on Boxing Day.
Only high-flying Wycombe have scored more goals than the Posh with 38 and only lowly Shrewsbury have conceded more than their 40 let in in 21 games.
Barnsley will look for an eighth away win of the season.
Head coach Darrell Clarke told the Chronicle: “We have seven away wins, and we would probably in the automatics away. We will try to finish the year on a high at Peterborough then it’s back to the home form and we all have to play a part in turning that round.
“Peterborough is another tough game. They are all tough.”
Peterborough’s star player Kwame Poku, who has ten goals and five assists, is out for three months with an injury.
Dale Tonge, who is from Barnsley and won promotion with the Reds as a player then a coach, is first team coach for Posh under Darren Ferguson who has managed them in more than 600 games across four spells.
They have the youngest squad in the division, averaging just 22.
The clubs have met 44 times with Barnsley winning 17 and losing 20.
The Reds have won just one of the last six, a 2-1 victory in Cambridgeshire in December 2022 with goals by Luca Connell and Adam Phillips.
Posh won 3-1 at Oakwell in August last season then, in their home game – played on December 29 like Sunday’s match – gifted goals to Herbie Kane and Devante Cole before coming back to draw 2-2.
Barnsley have not lost in their last four games at London Road while they have won seven of 12 visits since 1993.
This game is due to mark the halfway point in the Reds’ season.
