Barnsley will face their two most recent former captains when they visit Marc Roberts' Birmingham City tomorrow then Angus MacDonald's Hull City on Tuesday.
Both clubs are battling against the drop like Barnsley, who are now second-bottom with just one win in the last four months. The two away trips are part of a crucial period of six games in 18 days which began with a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Burton Albion on Tuesday.
Head coach Jose Morais said: "They are definitely important games in order to achieve what we want and very big opportunities. We want to take those opportunities. I believe we have an excitement to say: 'yeah, this is a must-win game so let's play it and do what we have to do and really go for it and challenge ourselves.' I believe we can get good results in Birmingham and Hull."
Despite being on a seven-match winless run, the Reds are only a point off safety and two behind tomorrow's 20th-placed hosts Birmingham, who have Roberts at the centre of their defence. The 27-year-old played 85 games for his hometown club after signing from non-league Halifax Town in 2015 then helping the Reds to promotion from League One and captaining them in the second half of last season.
The Penistone man – who scored for the Reds in the same fixture last season – joined the Blues in the summer for a fee of around £5million on a five-year contract. Roberts has played 24 Championship games for the Blues this season but has struggled to recapture last season's form.
He was credited with an own goal in the 5-0 loss at Brentford on Tuesday after flicking in a wayward shot following a major goalkeeping error by David Stockdale.That was an embarrassing thrashing for Birmingham who played three players they had signed from Brentford in the summer. It was also a fourth successive loss for the Blues, who had previously been on a good run with just one defeat and five wins out of eight.
Birmingham's goal tally of 22 from 33 games is the lowest in the EFL while they have not scored in their last three matches. The Blues have scored just 11 goals in 16 at St Andrew's this season – the lowest tally in the EFL – but their six home wins is the best of any club in the bottom five.
Harry Redknapp kept the Blues up last season but then was sacked after eight games of this campaign, having lost six in a row and taken them to second-bottom. He was replaced by his former assistant Steve Cotterill who has won seven, drawn five and lost 13 of his 25 games so far.
This match could pit two brothers against each other in central midfield with Birmingham's Craig Gardner possibly facing Barnsley's Gary Gardner.
Barnsley are unbeaten in four at St Andrew's, with two 1-1 draws as well as 5-0 success in 2012 and a 3-0 triumph last season. Cotterill has won two of nine games against Barnsley as a manager, for Burnley, Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Birmingham.
Morais singled out Roberts as a key player as well as Jeremie Boga, who he worked with at Chelsea, winger Jacques Maghoma, top-scorer Sam Gallagher, midfielder Cheikh N'Doye and goalkeeper Stockdale.
The head coach said: "It is a team that tries to play football from the back. They had a big defeat and they lost three points, we had a small defeat and lost three points. I expect our fans will travel to Birmingham and enjoy the game because we will give everything to win three points and bring them joy."
Barnsley won 2-0 at home to the Blues in November, with goals from Tom Bradshaw and Zeki Fryers, who remains an injury doubt along with Ethan Pinnock.Centre-back Matt Mills is expected to miss the game with a foot injury and Adam Jackson, who was on the bench against Burton, is likely to play his first match since limping off against Hull in October.
Tuesday's hosts Hull are 21st in the table, a point and two places above Barnsley. This is a game in hand for both teams. The KCOM Stadium has seen more goals than any other Championship ground this season with 53.
Only high-flying Wolves and Aston Villa have scored more goals on their own turf than Hull, who have not lost in East Yorkshire for six matches since November which have brought two wins and four draws. Both their home league games in 2018 have brought 0-0 draws while their last four matches have all been away.
Russian manager Leon Slutsky arrived in the summer after relegation from the Premier League but was sacked in December, leaving them 20th in the table.Nigel Adkins replaced him and has won two, drawn four and lost six in the Championship. They got their only league win of 2018 at Nottingham Forest earlier this month but that was followed by defeats at Chelsea in the FA Cup and Middlesbrough in the league.
MacDonald has played in all four games since joining from Barnsley in January. He had signed for the Reds from non-league Torquay at the start of last season and was an almost ever-present in an excellent first Championship campaign then was given the captaincy last summer.
But a combination of illness, injury, suspension and bad performances meant he only started ten of the Reds' 29 league games then joined the Tigers on the final day of the January transfer window for an undisclosed fee. Paul Heckingbottom, who was then the Barnsley head coach, said that the 25-year-old was suffering from an iron deficiency which was restricting his ability to train, but MacDonald said he was fully fit on arrival in East Yorkshire.
This will be the 100th league meeting of the two Yorkshire clubs, who have beaten each other 40 times after Hull won 1-0 at Oakwell in October thanks to a late goal by England international Fraizer Campbell. Barnsley lost 7-0 in Hull in 1964 but then won seven and drew one of the next eight visits to Boothferry Park.
They have struggled since Hull moved to their new ground in 2002, losing five of the six league games there although the win saw them recover from their former striker Jon Parkin putting the Tigers 2-0 up after nine minutes to triumph 3-2 in 2006. Barnsley's last game in Hull was in January 2013 when a Chris Dagnall goal earned David Flitcroft's Reds a 1-0 FA Cup victory.
Adkins won four games in a row against Barnsley with Scunthorpe and Southampton but has not beaten them in the last four with Reading and Sheffield United.After the next two games, Barnsley host Norwich City on March 3 then visit Cardiff City on a Tuesday evening and Middlesbrough the following Saturday.
Barnsley's under 23s are set to visit Hull on Monday evening, the day before the first team make the same trip. They lost 3-1 at home to Huddersfield Town in their last match after Victor Adeboyejo put them ahead. The under 18s are due to host Birmingham City from 11am tomorrow after they lost 2-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
