LUKE OUT! IT’S WOOD FINAL PUSH

WRITE off Macclesfield at your peril. That was my first thought when Nathan Blissett bundled home a last-minute winner against Gateshead in midweek.

Then they went and did it again at Woking on Good Friday. Late goals are a trademark of champions.

After defeat at Dover and a point at Maidstone, John Askey’s side were beginning to have some questions asked of them at the start of the week as Sutton moved back to the summit.

It felt like two definitive moments in the title race, which swung the pendulum back in favour of the Silkmen and ones that could well have their own section on the Macclesfield 2017-18 ‘Champions’ DVD season review.

In their remaining six games, two big challenges remain. They'll have one foot in the Football League if they can take four points from back-to-back trips to Ebbsfleet and Boreham Wood with fixtures to come against Leyton Orient (H), Eastleigh (A) and Dagenham (H), who will have their holiday suitcases packed.

One concern will be the fitness of Elliott Durrell, who came off injured against Gateshead. The 28-year-old midfielder has made a strong case to be the National League Player of the Year, this setback couldn’t be timed worse.

I expect Sutton to push them all the way but with three tricky away fixtures to hurdle, I can’t see Paul Doswell’s men pipping them to the post. A Tuesday night visit to FC Halifax, having been to top scorers AFC Fylde three days before, is a tough test of the part-timers’ resolve at this stage of the campaign. Then awaits a final trip to an Ebbsfleet side hungry to gatecrash the play-offs.

Tranmere will be left wondering what might have been had they shaken off their play-off final hangover a bit sooner. Their run-in is the most favourable but there’s too much ground to make up in too little time. Rovers’ aim now is to build momentum going into the play-offs.

Boreham Wood are my somewhat surprise pick to go up with Macclesfield. Manager Luke Garrard has built an experienced and impressive side in North London.

They’re hard to beat, having shipped the third fewest amount of goals, and have lost just three times on the road. Had they been able to turn some of their ten away draws into wins, they would be right in the mix at the top.

They’ve beaten promotion rivals Aldershot, Tranmere, Dover, AFC Fylde and Ebbsfleet this season. The likes of David Stephens, Jamie Turley, Tom Champion, Mark Ricketts and Scott Doe know how to win promotion. A frontline of Bruno Andrade, Angelo Balanta and Morgan Ferrier provides the firepower to blow away any oppoisition.

The Wood still have a couple of gears left unexplored, they might find them at Wembley.

NLP VERDICT: Macclesfield can live out the fairytale with the attractive football they play, while Boreham Wood can cause a shock under the Wembley arch