League Two: The deja vu, miracles and goal swings that could decide promotion hopes on final day

Northampton Town and Stockport are in a final-day battle for the last remaining automatic promotion spot in League Two

There is a sense of deja vu about the automatic promotion race on the final day of the League Two season.

The reason being that third-placed Northampton Town find themselves in exactly the same spot they were 12 months ago.

Spoiler for those that don't know the tale of the great Pirate heist of 2022, but the story didn't end well for the Cobblers.

Northampton and Stockport County are the only two sides in contention for the final automatic promotion spot this term, while there is plenty of jostling for positions in the play-off race below them.

BBC Sport looks how match-day 46 is shaping up for those at the top end of the fourth division, with all the relegation spots already decided.

Cobblers to 'work hard to find a way'

If Northampton want to seal automatic promotion on Monday, victory is what they need at Tranmere Rovers.

A draw would see them miss out to Stockport County if the Hatters beat already relegated Hartlepool.

The difference in the scenario would be goal difference... which is exactly how it panned out in the most cruel of circumstances a year ago when Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers - nicknamed the Pirates, of course - amazingly won their final game 7-0 to leapfrog a Northampton side that had managed a 3-1 final day victory themselves.

The Cobblers had to settle for the play-offs and were bundled out in their two-legged semi-final against Mansfield Town.

Not that anything that happened last year is what Northampton boss Jon Brady is thinking about now.

"Last year is gone," he told BBC Radio Northampton.

"We did everything at that time that we had to do, going to win the game. This year it's different - it's different opposition that we go and play.

"It's not a given right that we go there and win but we will be doing everything in our power to try do it. We will work extremely hard to find a way."

Stockport County boss Dave Challinor is confident about his side's chances of promotion to League One whether that happens this season, next season or beyond.

The fact that he has guided the Hatters into promotion contenders is also a point of pride for Challinor given his lack of experience in the EFL.

"It never gets boring. It [promotion] would be the biggest achievement of my career. The reality is, in the past I've had promotions as a manager, but I've never had a promotion in the Football League," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"I'm only around 50 or 60 games deep in terms of Football League management. This is something I want to do for a long time.

"These opportunities don't come around everyday. We do have a chance and we've got to control what we can control.

"It would be massive for the football club. This club will become a League One football club whether it's this year or next year, it will happen. We hope we can all play a special part in that."

Four into three for the play-off race

Carlisle United, Salford City and Bradford are locked on 75 points each and are three points clear of eight-placed Mansfield Town.

Each need only a draw to seal their play-off spot.

Defeat for any of them, combined with a win for Mansfield, would see the top seven decided on goal difference.

Bradford already missed one chance to assure themselves of a semi-final place, with a Chris Long penalty in the 11th minute of injury-time giving Crewe a dramatic 3-2 win against the Bantams on Wednesday which also ended the West Yorkshire side's hopes of automatic promotion.

Mark Hughes' Bradford now need something from their home game against title-winning Leyton Orient if they are not to rely on goal different to get them over the line.

"We almost always bounce back from these situations," Hughes told BBC Radio Leeds after the defeat by Crewe.

"We know exactly what we have to do. It's down to us, we've still got that very much in our hands so we're pleased about that. We'll just go and give it everything.

"It's going to be a great day, we've just got to get the job done. We just came up short, that can happen if you haven't got that control. But we'll be ready to go."

Carlisle are eight goals better off than the the Stags, which means a heavy loss combined with a big Stags win would be needed to see them drop out of the top seven.

"I'm delighted with what this group have done for 45 games but we are not guaranteed to be in the play-offs," Carlisle manager Paul Simpson told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"You saw it last season when Bristol Rovers went and smashed however many they did on the last game of the season and Northampton missed out. We won't take anything for granted.

"If we're not good enough to go to Sutton and get the right result and an eight-goal swing does happen, then the truth is we don't deserve to be in the play-offs. We can say it has been a good season but it will be disappointing if it does fall away."

Salford have won their last three games in a row and play 18th-placed Gillingham at home in their final game.

"I don't think we'll go out there to try and play for a point, it's not like us that," Salford manager Neil Wood told BBC Radio Manchester.

"If we'd been offered this at the start of the season - one point in our own hands with a home game for the last game of the season - would we take that? Then yes we would."

'I don't believe in miracles'

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough said the Stags would need "a miracle" to snatch a play-off spot on the final day after their home defeat by Harrogate last week.

As the son of the late Brian Clough, who pulled off one of the great football miracles when he took Nottingham Forest to back-to-back European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980, the Stags manager might be expected to believe in such things.

But he most certainly doesn't.

"All I believe in is preparing everything and giving everything to try get the three points and seeing what happens," he told BBC Sport.

"But no, I'm afraid I'm not in that group of people that believe in miracles."