Jabo Ibehre hopes his loan at Barnsley will end with a play-off final win at Wembley while admitting it is ironic that it starts with three games against his former clubs.
The big striker, 32, signed last Friday from the Reds' 22nd-placed League One rivals Colchester United and made his debut the following day against Walsall who he played with during the 2008/09 campaign.
Tomorrow (Saturday) he will visit another former club Oldham, where he played on loan from October until January this season, working with manager Lee Johnson who could not retain him for financial reasons but has since moved to Oakwell and signed him again. A third reunion in ten days will take place in Ibehre's home city of London on Tuesday against Leyton Orient, the club he started his career with and played for 243 times.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw the fixtures," said Ibehre, who has been out of favour at Colchester since a managerial change early in the season.
"To be playing Oldham so soon will be surreal. All the Oldham players are my friends but, as soon as you cross that white line, you're not friends anymore. As for Leyton Orient, I came through their youth system. It's an amazing family and I am still in contact with everyone there. I'm looking forward to both of the games and hopefully we'll get six points."
Ibehre is delighted to have linked up with Johnson again. He said: "Lee brings such enthusiasm to training and to his team. I had a fantastic time with him and Tommy (Wright, assistant) at Oldham. They got the best out of me and showed me a few new things.
"I jumped at the chance to work with them again. The team is flying at the moment and I hope very much that we will reach the play-offs and go up. You can see a contrast between the dressing room at Colchester, where they are still confident they will get out of it, and at Barnsley who have a different buzz because of where they are in the table and the run they are on."
Ibehre, who has also played for Stockport, Southend and MK Dons, has 91 goals in more than 500 career games. Johnson said: "Jabo is a big, strong League One player who, on his day, is unplayable. He probably doesn't score enough goals but everybody that plays with him scores goals. I didn't want to rely on George Waring alone for the rest of the season so we have got another club in the bag."
