One side has a clear advantage in Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town's race for second place: Opinion | OneFootball

The race for second place in League One looks set to go right down to the wire.

Barnsley will not yet have given up hope of crashing into the automatic promotion places, currently eight points behind second-placed Plymouth Argyle but having played two games fewer.

Ipswich Town are just two points behind Argyle with nine matches remaining having won their last six games on the bounce, on a run of seven straight clean sheets.

Argyle can extend their cushion on the Tractor Boys when they travel to Accrington Stanley this evening, which could have a psychological impact on Kieran McKenna's squad, who are not scheduled to play until April 1st.

Steven Schumacher's men do have a potentially taxing trip to Wembley in the Papa John's Trophy approaching on April 2nd, and a victory this evening would ensure that they arrive in the capital with their second-placed position intact.

The Tractor Boys are one of the form teams in the division and their individual talent does dwarf that of Argyle in areas, but there is a key element that gives the Pilgrims a great chance of holding onto second, their run-in.

In Argyle's remaining nine matches they play three teams inside the relegation zone, no one above tenth position currently and three of their four home games are against sides who will likely have nothing to play for, after winning 17 of their 19 league games at Home Park to this point.

Argyle's run-in is as follows: Accrington Stanley away, Morecambe away, Lincoln City at home, Exeter City away, Shrewsbury Town away, Cambridge United at home, Bristol Rovers at home, Burton Albion at home and finally Port Vale away.

In the final three fixtures of the season, Argyle will host Rovers and Burton who could well be on the beach, while Ipswich have to go to play-off chasing Peterborough United and top two pushing Barnsley.

The Tractor Boys' run-in is as follows: Derby County away, Wycombe Wanderers at home, Cheltenham Town away, Charlton Athletic at home, Port Vale at home, Peterborough away, Barnsley away, Exeter City at home and finally Fleetwood Town away.

Ipswich have the quality and depth in their squad to say 'thank you very much we are far too good for this league' and march past Argyle, but Schumacher's men are in a great position to take it right down to the wire and capitalise on some favourable fixtures in tense circumstances.

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