Sunderland treading an ever-narrower path towards the play-offs, and potential promotion

The path becomes ever narrower. Sunderland's route to the play-offs - and, hopefully, promotion - is perilous and strewn with obstacles.

The international break meant that Sunderland had no match at the weekend, allowing Sheffield Wednesday to play their game in hand and climb into the top six at the Black Cats' expense, while Ipswich's win against Plymouth kept the Tractor Boys' faint hopes alive. With only seven games remaining, Alex Neil's side is one of seven realistic contenders for the four play-off spots.

At this stage, of that group, in-form MK Dons look a safe bet to occupy one of those places, and Plymouth are also in a strong position although they have played one game more than all-but one of their rivals. There is little to choose between Oxford, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, and Wycombe, who are separated by only three points and have all played the same number of games, while Ipswich are the outsiders with ground to make up and - like Plymouth - one game fewer left to play.

The race for the play-offs is tight and seems certain to go all the way to the final day of the season. From Sunderland's point of view, a campaign which at the turn of the year was on course for an automatic promotion challenge has become a scrabble for a play-off place.

After a disastrous January which spilled over into February, the fact that they are still in with a chance at all owes much to their recent uptick in form. They are unbeaten in six games, a sequence consisting of three wins and three draws.

A comprehensive win at automatic promotion-chasing Wigan, and back-to-back victories against strugglers Fleetwood and Crewe that came despite below-par performances on Wearside. But the three draws have been damaging, and may yet