Reds Manager Danny Wilson met with the press ahead of two festive fixtures in quick succession at Oakwell, and is hopeful both games yield big crowds.
Bolton Wanderers visit Oakwell on Boxing Day (3pm kick-off) followed by Derby County on Sunday 29th (3pm kick-off).
Starting with team news for the visit of Wanderers, Danny said, “Marcus Tudgay is not available to us and his loan spell finishes within that period. Jacob Mellis picked up his fifth booking, so we’ll be without his services.
“We’ll have to call on another couple of players. We’re okay at this moment in time. We’ve got Bobby Hassell and Lewin Nyatanga who were suffering from cramp – which is understandable, not playing any games so far. The other lads have come through it okay.”
Elsewhere in the side, Chris O’Grady and Paddy McCourt may need extra time to recover from calf and hamstring injuries, respectively.
“I will know better on that one (Chris O’Grady) on Wednesday,” said Danny. “We’ll look at him Christmas Day and see where we are then.
“You have to sometimes gamble a bit but it’s got to be a calculated gamble in these circumstances because we can’t afford to have them out for long periods. We need them back as soon as we can but bringing them back too soon can be detrimental to their injuries.
“It is about managing them but we still have to do a lot of work in terms of what we’d like them to do in their approach to the games. We’ll perhaps spend more training ground than we’d like, simply because we want to get our message over to them.
“It’s about them managing themselves when they leave here they have to be understand that being away from the Football Club doesn’t mean they can enjoy the festivities like everybody else.
“Hopefully by the time the game comes along we’ll have a bumper crowd and a very vociferous one that’s going to get behind us.”
Bolton arrive at Oakwell just seven points above the Reds as Danny returns to manage his first home game back in charge of Barnsley.
“They will be disappointed, I’m sure, at where they are at this moment,” he added of Thursday’s opponents. “Everybody thought they’d be challenging at this stage. We can’t really look at the reasons as to why, but we know that if we can win we’ll claw a few points back and be in touching distance of them, so that’s our incentive.
“I’m sure that Dougie (Freedman – Bolton Manager) will be thinking exactly the same things in terms of the play-offs.
“Being at home, you always want to put points on the board at home and have strong home form. Not least the fans – you want to give them something to shout about.”
