Barnsley are going to Derby County on Sunday to claim a victory which would keep them in the Championship and end a run of five successive away defeats.
Although a draw or loss would be enough to keep the Reds up, as long as neither Burton Albion or Bolton Wanderers better their result, head coach Jose Morais wants to make sure of survival with victory. He said: "When you are a competitive person, you always go to win. We believe we can win and we will go to win. That is our mindset."
Morais appeared to dismiss the idea of having touchline updates of Burton's match at Preston North End and Bolton's home game against Nottingham Forest."We need to win the game and that will not change until the end of the game. I am not going to worry about what is going on in other pitches. What will happen will happen."
Morais' last four home matches have brought two draws and two wins, but he has lost five successive away games since winning 2-0 at fellow strugglers Birmingham City then drawing at Hull City.
The former Chelsea assistant manager said: "We played Cardiff, which is a top three team, Middlesbough which is top six, then Leeds, Ipswich and Nottingham Forest who are all good teams. I believe, with more time, the away performances would be better. We have to work on the mindset in certain games.
"If we believe we can do it, we can do it. It is not enough just for the coach to believe, the whole organisation and the players should believe."
Centre-back Adam Jackson is returning from injury and Morais may have to decide whether to put him back into the team or continue with Ethan Pinnock who played against Brentford on Saturday. Winger Lloyd Isgrove is not expected to return. Morais said: "I think Jackson will be OK to be an option. Isgrove is doubtful and he won't be 100 per cent fit for the game. It will be difficult for him to play in the game."
Derby are in sixth place, the final play-off position, and they know that a win or draw will secure an extension to their season while defeat to Barnsley could allow seventh-placed Preston North End to overtake them. Morais said: "Derby are a good team. They have been having a very good season in the top eight. They have been a club that, in the last few years, was always aiming for the play-offs and promotion. It is a club with tradition.
"They have some interesting and good players. (Andre) Wisdom, (Cameron) Jerome, (Tom) Huddlestone, they are all players from the Premier League that we played against when I was at Chelsea. They have quality but so do we."
Barnsley have won just five of their 33 games in Derby, losing 20, while they have lost ten of their most recent 15 matches there, winning just one – a 3-2 success under Mark Robins in 2009. The Reds have not won in five trips to Pride Park since then, losing the last three including last season when Matty James put them ahead in the second half only for the Rams to come back to win.
Derby won their last home game 3-1 against Cardiff City, who are chasing automatic promotion, on the same night that Barnsley were losing 3-0 at the Rams' bitter rivals Nottingham Forest. Gary Rowett's club would have been guaranteed a place in the play-off semi-finals had they not conceded an 83rd-minute equaliser in their 1-1 draw at fourth-placed Aston Villa on Saturday.
The two clubs have already met twice at Oakwell this season.Rowett made 11 changes for a Carabao Cup match in September and his team led twice but the Reds won 3-2 as Jackson and Tom Bradshaw equalised before Adam Hammill netted an 88th-minute winner.
County returned in December for a 3-0 league win which was part of an unbeaten 12-match run that lasted until early February when they were in the second automatic promotion place and nine points clear of the sides outside the top six. But they then suffered through an eight-match winless run while they have only won three of their last 15 matches, which have brought 15 points – only one more than Barnsley in that time – and they are 18th in the form table during that period. County have lost to Barnsley's fellow strugglers Burton Albion and Sunderland in the last five weeks.
Derby's poor form began after a season-ending injury for former Barnsley striker Sam Winnall, who had netted six goals in as many league starts on loan from Sheffield Wednesday. County have two former Oakwell captains on their books but both are out on loan with Jacob Butterfield swapping with Winnall in a move to Wednesday and Jason Shackell completing the campaign at Millwall.
