Sunderland moved a step closer to clinching a play-off place at the weekend, as the League One campaign entered its final month. With Rotherham and Wigan occupying the top two positions, seven clubs - Sunderland, MK Dons, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford, Wycombe, and Ipswich - went into April with a realistic chance of securing one of the four play-off spots.
But by the time the dust had settled on Saturday's action, one of those sides had gone from realistic contenders to rank outsiders. For Sunderland, however, it was a good weekend as the Black Cats' victory against Gillingham lifted them back into the top six.
Here ChronicleLive takes a look at the weekend's ups and downs in the play-off battle.
Pilgrims progress at Oxford's expense...
The game of the day in the play-off race came at Home Park, where fifth-placed Oxford took on fourth-placed Plymouth.
And the Pilgrims emerged with a 1-0 victory which kept them fimly on course for a play-off spot, while the U's dropped two places to seventh.
Plymouth stay fourth and still have a five-point gap between themselves and fifth place, although all of their rivals with the exception of Ipswich have a game in hand of them.
...and that was good news for Sunderland, too
The Black Cats capitalised on Oxford's slip-up, leapfrogging the U's to move back into the play-off places at their expense.
Sunderland left it late, with Nathan Broadhead scoring in the 95th minute to give Alex Neil's men a 1-0 win against Gillingham on Wearside.
But that was enough to see Sunderland go sixth in the table, and they are a point ahead of Oxford ahead of their meeting at the Kassam Stadium this weekend.
Sheffield Wednesday also left it late
Darren Moore's Owls also profited from Oxford's defeat, with an injury-time winner giving them a 2-1 victory over AFC Wimbledon at Hillsborough.
Wednesday were sixth going into the weekend, but they also leapfrogged Oxford to go fifth.
They are two points ahead of Sunderland, and three clear of Oxford.
Wycombe keep the pressure on
A routine 2-0 home win over relegation candidates Doncaster means Wycombe remain firmly in the running.
Gareth Ainsworth's side are eighth in the table, but are only behind Oxford on goal difference, are just a point behind Sunderland, and three points behind Sheffield Wednesday.
MK Dons' bandwagon keeps on rolling
Liam Manning's side won 2-0 at home to Shrewsbury at the weekend, extending their unbeaten run to 13 games - a sequence that has yielded 33 points out of a possible 39.
They are third in the table and look racing certainties to finish in the top six, with a ten-point cushion between themselves and seventh-placed Oxford.
But in fact they could yet force their way into an automatic promotion place, as they are now just a single point behind top two Rotherham and Wigan - albeit the Millers have one game in hand of them and the Latics two.
Tractor Boys get stuck in the mud
Of all the sides competing for a play-off spot, Ipswich were the outsiders going into the weekend.
They were five points off the pace and had played one game more than most of the other contenders.
Their 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Cambridge United on Saturday looks to have ended any realistic hopes they had of finishing in the top six.
There gap between Kieran McKenna's ninth-placed side and the play-off places has widened to six points, and they have only five games remaining while most of their rivals have six.
For the latest Sunderland news direct to your inbox, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
