THERE COULD BE TWIN ROVERS GLORY PARTY
EVEN by the standards of the Football League, League Two is tight.
There were just six points separating second from tenth heading into the weekend - and Mansfield, in tenth, had games in hand on everyone above them.
Back at the mid-season mark, it looked like only one thing was certain - Forest Green were destined for the league title. However, even that looked much less of a foregone conclusion when Rovers went on a seven-game winless run.
That drought ended when they beat Colchester 1-0 courtesy of an early goal from top scorer Matty Stevens last Monday. That may well prove to be the boost the Gloucestershire outfit need to go on and clinch promotion to the third tier for the first time in their history.
Below that, the picture is as clear as mud. A couple of dodgy results could move you from being favourites for automatic promotion to scrambling to get into the play-offs!
Saying all that, one club who I would tip to be most likely to follow Forest Green into League One are Bristol Rovers.
Pre-weekend, Joey Barton’s side were fourth, but the Gas are flying right now. They had only one loss in their last 11 and four straight victories before heading to Carlisle yesterday.
Aaron Collins is the man leading their charge and his performances have reflected Rovers’ season as a whole. Collins had not found the net in the league before December, but four months later he is into double figures and scoring crucial goals almost every week.
Matt Taylor’s Exeter, second pre-weekend, are the other side looking likely to make the automatic spots. With eight games to play, they look set to finally banish their League Two promotion hoodoo.
But Grecians fans will probably want to see it before they believe it, given all those seasons of play-off heartbreak. On the plus side, they are a side trending in the right direction and they will be hoping they will still be in style come May.
The play-off spots are still as open as Scunthorpe at the back, with everyone in the top ten very much in play.
Northampton and Tranmere have both been concentrating on automatic promotion for much of this season, but have begun to stutter at the wrong time.
Tranmere’s defence was bordering on legendary for most of the season, but now it feels more like a myth – pre-weekend they had only recorded one clean sheet since beating Swindon
3-0 in early February.
The Prenton Park outfit even conceded nine goals in a three-game spell against Newport (lost 4-2),
Northampton (lost
3-2) and
Mansfield (won 3-2). Northampton have hit the rocks and struggled to steer away in the past few weeks. Pre-weekend, Jon Brady’s men had only two wins in seven and even failed to score against Scunthorpe in that spell, playing out a goalless draw.
Missing out on the playoffs altogether would be almost unthinkable for these two given the way they have played for large parts of the season, but this is not a league that cares about what came before only form is king.
Before a shock loss to Hartlepool last weekend, Newport were the ones looking upward, with four wins and a draw in the five preceding games. Now their hopes look darker. With Exeter (next Saturday, h), Swindon (Apr 9, a), Sutton (Apr 18, a), and Port Vale (Apr 30, a) all still to play, it means their hopes are in their own hands but County are in danger of being exiled out of the top seven.
What could make the difference, though, is the goals of Dom Telford, who topped the division’s scoring charts with 24 pre-weekend.
Swindon have set up camp in the play-off race all season, but despite having a favourable run-in, they are a team who are more than capable of failing to deal with teams towards the bottom of the league.
The Robins would have been in the top three had they taken their chances against Crawley last weekend, but crashed to a 3-1 defeat.
Whenever midfielder Louie Reed isn’t available they seem to forget how to play.
Sutton had been having a hangover after reaching the Papa John’s Trophy final, but that headache may have faded after a vital midweek victory over struggling Oldham put their dream first EFL season back on track. The wildcards in the race are Port Vale and Mansfield. Heading into the weekend, they were on the outside looking in, but the points difference is minimal and they hold those extra aces of games in hand, in particular Mansfield.
Nigel Clough’s Stags have stormed up the table over the last few months and will fancy their chances of bagging a playoff place at the very least. They will, however, have to cope with an extremely busy run-in.
Salford, 11th pre-weekend, are hoping to put a late run together and also have games in hand, but they may well have left themselves with just a bit too much work to do.
PROMOTION VERDICT
1. Forest Green
2. Bristol Rovers
3. Exeter
4. Mansfield
5. Newport Co
6. Northampton T
7. Swindon T
THE FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
AT THE foot of the table, Scunthorpe United appear to be dead and buried. The Iron were ten points from safety pre-weekend and look odds-on to be lining up in the National League next term.
Above them, it could get interesting as the three teams fighting to be in place to sit on a League Two chair when the music stops can barely scrape a win between them.
Heading into the weekend, second-bottom Oldham, Stevenage, 22nd, and Barrow, 21st, had only tasted victory once between them in their last six matches.
That win took the battling Bluebirds six points clear of relegation.
Up until Oldham faced Carlisle in early March, The ‘Shezarection’ seemed to be on.
John Sheridan was working his magic, seemingly limited to that part of Lancashire, in his fourth permanent stint in charge of the Latics.
However, a 2-1 home defeat to Carlisle sent them into a fivegame tailspin pre-weekend and seriously damaged their survival prospects.
Despite this rotten form, Stevenage and Barrow are frantically mopping a pair of sweating brows.
Project managers Paul Tisdale and Mark Cooper have been jettisoned for firefighters Steve Evans and Phil Brown respectively.
Pre-weekend, Evans’ Stevenage had a three-point cushion and Brown’s Barrow a six-point advantage over Oldham, but it doesn’t seem to be giving them much comfort as neither one seems to be making a run for survival.
The picture could well become clearer next weekend when Oldham head to the Lamex Stadium to face Stevenage. If the Latics lose that one, they really will be staring down the barrel.
Beating Colchester may well prove to be the boost Forest Green need to go on and clinch promotion
RELEGATION VERDICT:
23. Oldham 24. Scunthorpe