Hull City, Norwich City situation could barely have played out worse for Plymouth Argyle: View | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle’s hopes of survival didn’t increase at all after the weekend’s action.

Losing by a single goal to a Millwall side guaranteed safety made it two defeats on the spin, with other results causing further headache.

Draws for two other Championship teams have set up an uncomfortable day for those in the green half of Devonshire, with plenty still to play for.

Penultimate weekend of Championship football a nightmare for Plymouth

Millwall mainstay Jake Cooper scored late on at The Den to worsen the mood amongst the Plymouth Argyle faithful, but also on Saturday, Norwich City and Hull City played out draws whilst West Bromwich Albion were beaten, setting up a grandstand finish for those in pursuit of a play-off spot.

It couldn’t have gone much worse for Argyle, in truth, with the momentum pushing against them, and not for the first time.

The Canaries and the Tigers don’t only have their seasons still at stake, but they can also play a major role in the battle at the other end of the table.

Norwich are three points clear of Hull with a superior goal difference, all but confirming their spot in the top six. This means that they might not have the same level of motivation as 22nd place Birmingham City when they visit St. Andrew's on Saturday lunchtime.

Meanwhile, Hull have an opportunity to jump above West Brom (now in sixth) following the latter’s loss to Sheffield Wednesday, and their final fixture sees them cross paths with Argyle.

Argyle and Hull both desperately need a positive result, which makes this one of the must-watch clashes on the final day of the Championship campaign.

It could have been very different, too, after Omari Hutchinson’s superb brace for promotion favourites Ipswich Town, only for Liam Delap and fellow substitute Noah Ohio to peg the Tractor Boys back in the tense 3-3 tie at the KCOM Stadium in the last game on Saturday.

Plymouth and Birmingham shooting out for a place in the Championship next season

Rotherham United have been cut adrift at the bottom for months now and Huddersfield Town are highly likely to join them in League One next season unless there's a quite shocking swing of goals.

Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers might not be out of the woods yet, but it would take a major collapse for them to drop back into the bottom three.

This leaves Birmingham and Argyle battling to avoid the drop, whilst the others risk nothing more than the odd nervous glance back over their shoulders.

The lack of impetus for Norwich has the potential to hand Birmingham an advantage this weekend, a major factor working against Argyle. Whilst Norwich will want to win and maintain momentum heading towards the play-offs, they will want to avoid injuries and suspensions, so those 50-50s you once competed for, you might just think twice about playing against a Blues side with everything on the line.

Meanwhile, Morgan Whittaker's magic and raucous supporters can help return the positive atmosphere for Neil Dewsnip and Kevin Nancekivell as they look to secure safety and cut short Hull’s season in the process.

Home Park was a fortress for the Pilgrims earlier in the season, as the likes of Sunderland and Stoke City found out, but times have certainly changed down south. But Birmingham will also have a home crowd roaring them on all the way as they try to live to fight another day in the second tier of English football.