Port Vale, Mansfield, Bristol Rovers and Northampton’s final League Two run-in fixtures compared | OneFootball

Things are getting awfully tight near the top of the League Two table.

Just seven points separate third-place Port Vale and Tranmere Rovers in ninth – and so much can change in the final weeks of the season.

Bristol Rovers, Northampton Town, and Mansfield Town are all within five points of third place so how each club navigates the five or six games they’ve got left of the season is going to decide who goes up automatically and who heads into the lottery of the play-offs.

With that in mind, we’ve broken down each club’s run-in for means of comparison…

Port Vale

Vale may be in the much-revered third spot right now but they have a tough run ahead of them with Hartlepool United (away), Rovers (home), Walsall (A), Newport County (H), and Exeter City (A) to play.

Both in-form Walsall and inconsistent Hartlepool are set for a mid-table finish and don’t have a huge amount to play for and that should play into their hands but Rovers and Newport are both battling for a play-off spot while Exeter are two points above Darrell Clarke’s side in second.

There’s undoubtedly an advantage to playing three of the sides around you in the table as you can take points off them but there’s no denying that those are going to be difficult games and any slip-ups will be particularly costly.

Mansfield Town

With a game in hand over the sides around them and only three points between them and Vale, Mansfield are in a strong position in the battle for the final automatic promotion place.

Their run-in is as follows: Sutton United (H), Carlisle United (A), Crawley Town (H), Stevenage (H), Salford City (A), and Forest Green (H).

That four of those will be played at Field Mill is a huge boost given they’ve got the best home record in the division in terms of points per game (2.21).

Sutton and Salford are both pushing for a place in the play-offs and represent difficult games but 17th-place Carlisle and 12th-place Crawley don’t have a huge amount to play for while Stevenage are heading for the National League.

Finishing with Forest Green is tough but the advantage of playing the league leaders on the last day of the season is that they may have already clinched the title at that point.

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James Wilson

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Northampton Town

Northampton could well play a big part in the battles at both ends of League Two in the final weeks of the season as their final five games of the season are against Oldham Athletic (A), Harrogate (H), Leyton Orient (A), Exeter (H) and Barrow (A).

Oldham and Barrow are both teetering above the bottom two at the moment – level on points with Stevenage but with better goal differences – and will be battling for their EFL futures.

The Cobblers should still feel confident that they can beat two of League Two’s bottom four, however.

Harrogate and Orient are both on course for mid-table finishes and the latter have stuttered slightly of late, with Richie Wellens’ new manager bounce showing signs of wearing off.

Welcoming second-place Exeter for the season’s penultimate fixture is a difficult test given the Grecians are still looking to confirm promotion themselves.

Bristol Rovers

Sixth-placed Rovers have the most amount of ground to make up on Vale and their run-in starts with three testing games against eighth-place Salford City (H), Vale (A), and league leaders Forest Green Rovers (A).

However, they finish with a trip to face mid-table Rochdale and then Scunthorpe, who have been the worst team in the EFL this season, at home.

If Joey Barton’s side can win those initial three games, they will surely be among the frontrunners to seize third place.