Lee Johnson and Ben Mansford say that Barnsley wanted to play all their games this week as they do not want to lose any ground on promotion rivals.

The Reds have had three international call-ups, usually enough to postpone a fixture, but Dan Crowley's does not count as he is on a youth loan. Had Ryan Williams, who is still struggling with a groin problem, jetted off to feature for Australia then Barnsley would have had the power to postpone tomorrow's home league clash with bottom club Crewe Alexandra. Both head coach Johnson and chief executive Mansford agree that the club do not want to have to squeeze fixtures in later in the calendar after their Johnstone's Paint Trophy match at Bradford City was rained off on Tuesday. It has been rearranged for Tuesday October 13 next week. 

Mansford said: "If Ryan Williams had been called up we could have called it off but we don't want to get too many games behind.  We would have missed Crewe and the Coventry game (rearranged from last week to November 3 due to a conference at the Ricoh Arena).  That's six points we could have fallen behind. Even if we could have called it off, I don't think we would have because we want to keep in touch with the teams above us."

Aside from Crowley, who's with the England under 19s, Barnsley are also without Conor Wilkinson (Republic of Ireland under 21s) and Simeon Jackson (Canada) for tomorrow's game. Michael Smith was not allowed to play on Tuesday as he has already featured in the competition for Swindon. Despite having players missing, Johnson was keen to play both games.

He told the Chronicle: "You want to be at your strongest for every game but it would have been a good time to have played that game against Bradford. I didn't want the Coventry game called off because it was another chance to put points on the board. Generally you want to go into every game fit, strong, rested and energised.  That is what you go up against with the fixture list. But we will have a strong 11 against Crewe."

Johnson says he's been convinced that his side will take their frustrations of not playing Tuesday out on Crewe tomorrow. The Railwaymen, managed by former Reds defender Steve Davis, are bottom of the table and have only one league win this campaign. Johnson added: "The players picked me up this week with their enthusiasm and their energy. I think they'll release that energy and frustration in this game but we have to make sure we channel it in the right way."

Johnson appreciates his team need to perform as well against sides struggling as well as against promotion rivals. He said: "It's a tough game. They're bottom of the league but we haven't faired well against those sides. There's no scooting around that issue.  We've faired better against teams that are up near the top than teams that are down at the bottom. It's a different mentality and mindset. We're going to need our fans because we've got a young group and, if it doesn't go well early, we can't get frustrated, we can still win the game in the 90 minutes."

Johnson confirmed that on-loan midfielder Joe Rothwell will have an operation to remove his tonsils on October 22. Rothwell will remain available until then but will miss a month afterwards.