Bristol City boss Gary Johnson is taking emergency measures to safeguard his team's promotion ambitions from an impending fixture pile-up.

Snow and sub-zero temperatures mean tomorrow's Coca-Cola Championship clash between City and Crystal Palace is already in doubt.

Palace groundstaff have covered the Selhurst Park pitch and brought in industrial heaters in a bid to save the game, but hazardous travelling conditions and safety issues in and around the stadium are threatening to put the fixture off.

Bristol City FC have already had to rearrange their FA Cup third round tie against Cardiff following last weekend's Ashton Gate call-off and manager Johnson fears his team's play-off aspirations could be hit by a fixture backlog if the big freeze continues.

Aware of the problems which could be caused by a heavy schedule later in the season, Johnson today opted to recall striker John Akinde from Wycombe Wanderers.

Having spent several weeks on loan at the League One club, the young striker will henceforth provide cover during what promises to be a hectic second half to the campaign.

"It's going to be a case of all hands to the pump," said Johnson, who recently recalled right-back Christian Ribeiro and welcomed back James Wilson from loan spells at Stockport County and Brentford respectively.

"Given the weather we've had over the past week and given the forecast for the next few days, we could have a problem," warned Johnson.

"I know everybody is in the same boat at the moment, because the snow has fallen across the whole country, but it does create difficulties when games are off and you don't play for a long time.

"We have to be thinking in terms of quite a few rearranged games later in the season and that is going to put extra pressure on the squad.

"That's why I brought Christian back from Stockport and I'm now doing the same with John Akinde. Once a player is in his second month, you can recall him at 24 hours' notice and, given the circumstances, I feel this is the right time to do it.

"If our game at Palace goes down and if Tuesday's tie against Cardiff is off, games are going to come thick and fast and we will be playing Saturday, Tuesday and Saturday for most of the rest of the season.

"When that happens, you have to utilise your whole squad and that's why we need to have more bodies around at this time."

City have contacted the Football League to request that they put pressure on Palace to make an early pitch inspection.

Johnson explained: "We are planning to leave at 1pm on Friday and the last thing we want is to make the journey and then find that the game is off after we have arrived.

"We've asked the Football League to press Palace for an early decision, because we feel that is the best thing for our supporters and the players."

Should the game go ahead, City will definitely be without suspended centre-back Lewin Nyatanga and Dutch midfielder Evander Sno, who is not due to return from his grandmother's funeral in Surinam until Monday.