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

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