• Derby have their eyes set on catching the top two after four straight wins lifted them up to sixth, and they travel to Brisbane Road to face a Leyton Orient side still reeling from a seven-match winless streak and an embarrassing FA Cup exit to non-league Chesterfield
• Another side with red faces after last week’s second round were Reading, beaten at Eastleigh as their unhappy fans rained tennis balls down on the pitch. They might be glad of a home game against Barnsley, who have not beaten them in the last 10 meetings.
• Charlton are also smarting following their cup defeat by Gillingham but have League One top-scorer Alfie May in white-hot form with 10 goals in his last nine league games. They face Millwall legend Neil Harris, who takes charge of Cambridge for the first time.
• Blackpool are on the up with two wins from three, and the top six in their sights. They will fancy three more points against a Carlisle side finding life in League One tough after promotion via the play-offs, losing three of their last four.
• Wigan must forget their glamour cup tie with Manchester United next month as they host Lincoln, while Shrewsbury visit Wycombe, disappointed by a home defeat by Morecambe in the cup last week.
• In the other two games, Northampton host Fleetwood and Stevenage take their 10-match unbeaten run to Burton Albion.

Image source, Getty Images

Only one team in the top six tiers of English football are in worse form than Port Vale over their past 10 league games… and the Valiants visit them today.

Beleaguered Exeter have taken only two points from their last 10 League One games, scored just two goals and conceded 25 to pile huge pressure onto boss Gary Caldwell.

Vale have earned three points from their last 11, scored just six themselves, and lie a point and a place above the Grecians, hovering precariously above the League One relegation places.

Both sides are looking to record a league win for the first time since sun-soaked 16 September, when the temperature was in the mid-20s and both teams were eyeing the upper reaches of the table.

Fast-forward nearly three months and something’s got to give this afternoon, surely?

Image source, Getty Images

New boss Matt Taylor will be looking to make a winning start in front of the Bristol Rovers fans when rock-bottom Cheltenham make their shortest away trip of the season.

Taylor was in the dugout as Rovers lost at Crawley in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday but heads to the Mem hoping to extend his new side’s six-match unbeaten streak at home in League One – their best league run in more than four years.

Rovers are also seeking a fourth straight league win over the Robins, who saw their own three-game unbeaten run snapped at Charlton last time out and who are managed by former Rovers boss Darrell Clarke, who led the club from the National League to League One during a four-year reign.

Cheltenham have already played, and lost, at the Memorial Stadium this season, losing 4-1 in the EFL Trophy in September, and are seeking to avoid a fifth straight defeat to Rovers in all competitions.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the games of the day in the EFL sees third-placed Oxford head to Peterborough, a point behind them sat in fifth in League One.

Darren Ferguson's Posh are unbeaten in seven at home, winning five of the last six, scoring 18 goals in that spell and keeping five clean sheets.

Oxford have won six of nine away games but two of their defeats came in their last four on the road, including at lowly Cheltenham in their most recent away matches.

Des Buckingham is still seeking his first win, and goal, as Us manager after replacing Liam Manning at the helm last month.

The omens aren’t great as Boro haven’t lost in five matches between the two sides, their best unbeaten run in this rivalry in 30 years, and Oxford haven’t tasted victory at London Road since 2017.

• Accrington v Doncaster
• AFC Wimbledon v Swindon
• Colchester v Crawley
• Grimsby v Crewe
• Morecambe v Stockport
• Notts County v Walsall
• Tranmere v Newport

• Blackpool v Carlisle
• Bristol Rovers v Cheltenham
• Burton v Stevenage
• Charlton v Cambridge
• Exeter v Port Vale
• Leyton Orient v Derby
• Northampton v Fleetwood
• Peterborough v Oxford
• Reading v Barnsley
• Wigan v Lincoln
• Wycombe v Shrewsbury

The weather has not been kind across the country today and as a result, we have lost five games from the programme, all of them in League Two.

• Barrow v Gillingham
• Bradford v Salford
• Forest Green v Wrexham
• Mansfield v MK Dons
• Sutton v Harrogate

Image source, Rex Features

The weather is lousy and Christmas is just around the corner, but that won't stop the diehards of League One and Two clubs from getting to games.

And if the games are on, we'll be across the action!

Sadly, the rain has accounted for five League Two matches this afternoon, but there is still plenty to enjoy.

With League One's top two, Portsmouth and Bolton playing each other on Monday, all eyes will be on the chasing pack to narrow the gap.

And at the bottom, Exeter and Port Vale - a mere 21 games combined without a win - face off. Probably not one for the purists at St James' Park.

With the games of their closest challengers all postponed, League Two leaders Stockport could be EIGHT points clear by close of play.

So stick with us over the next three hours for all the goals, drama and major incidents!