BBC local radio

You can listen to selected commentaries of today's matches in League One and League Two on your BBC local radio station.

At the top of this page, you'll find options to watch Final Score and listen to Squad Goals - bringing you news of the goals and major incidents as they happen across the EFL.

Niall McCaughan
BBC Final Score at Fratton Park

Fleetwood have lost six games in a row in all competitions without registering a goal. So will they get an early Christmas gift of three points at Fratton Park? Unlikely.

Pompey have lost just one in 32 in League One and are seven points clear at the top - but they've been in this position twice before in recent years and still aren't a Championship club.

Despite being cautious of another "typical Pompey" second half to the campaign, many think 2024 will finally be the year.

Laura Kenyon
BBC Final Score at Croud Meadow

High-flying Peterborough have arrived in sunny Shropshire in style. Suited and booted - and not the tracksuit and studs kind! Look at those suits. Most stylish side in League One?!

Maybe it's because a certain Sir Alex Ferguson is in town. I'm reliably informed he’s here supporting his son, Darren, today.

Quite the Christmas atmosphere too. Tunes blaring, including an interesting take on Elton John’s Step Into Christmas by Shrewsbury goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne. A shock contender for a future festive number one, perhaps.

Three games to go and counting for Reading.

Given the year the Royals have had, they can't wait to see the back of 2023 and hope 2024 can bring some relief to their torrid time on and off the field.

The past 12 months have seen a slide out of the Championship amid a financial soup of points penalties, transfer embargo, fines and protests against owner Dai Yongge.

Add to that staff redundancies announced before Christmas and you can see why feelings are running so hot in Berkshire as fears of a second straight relegation grow.

Navigating his way through it all is boss Ruben Selles, who says he will be on the touchline for today's visit of Wigan, despite being sent off in last week's draw at Lincoln.

The gap to safety is four points - not huge - and their current run of one defeat in five (and eight points from 15) is encouraging.

Wigan, themselves, offer Reading proof of how clubs can recover.

The Latics also went down with the Royals last season and have had their share of financial issues.

Helped by a takeover, Shaun Maloney's side have managed to wipe out an eight-point penalty before a ball was kicked this term and are well placed to consolidate in League One this season, seven points clear of trouble.

Second-placed Peterborough will be hoping to maintain their recent good form and close the gap to leaders Portsmouth with victory over mid-table Shrewsbury.

Darren Ferguson's men have won four of their past five and have won 25 league games during 2023 - the last time they won more matches in a calendar year was in 2008 (28).

It's a very congested play-off picture at present and Oxford are another team right in the mix. The Yellows start the afternoon in fourth but could be second tonight if they beat Northampton and Posh drop points.

Bolton are just a point back from Oxford and are looking to get back on track against Leyton Orient after losing their past two league games, but Richie Wellens' side are unbeaten in their past five away league matches.

Blackpool, in eighth, are looking to bridge the gap to those play-off spots and host 11th-placed Bristol Rovers with Jordan Rhodes looking to add to his 14 league goals this season.

Only one man has more than the veteran striker and that is Charlton's Alfie May (15). The Addicks host 19th-placed Burton this afternoon.

The fixture list is rounded off with out-of-form Wycombe, who are without a win in nine league games, hosting Port Vale. They have won their past two in the league but lost to Middlesbrough in their Carabao Cup quarter-final in midweek.

Image source, Rex Features

Having finished fifth in League One last season, Barnsley would expect to be up there challenging again this campaign.

But under Neill Collins' management, they have not yet found that consistent run to keep them in the top six.

It is only one defeat in 10, but four draws means that they are on the outside looking in.

And one of those sides looking down on them is Stevenage, whose current unbeaten record stands at 13 in all competitions.

With manager Steve Evans never afraid to ruffle feathers and striker Jamie Reid banging the goals in, the Boro are proving difficult opponents for everyone they face.

Expect Barnsley to encounter the same today.

We are less than 36 hours away from Christmas and the fixture list in League One has thrown up a real relegation dogfight.

Carlisle occupy the final relegation spot as they welcome bottom side Cheltenham all the way up to Brunton Park.

With Exeter losing last night, the Cumbrians would escape the bottom four with a victory. The trouble is they have only managed three of those all season.

The Robins have also only picked up three but after their wretched start, they have at least got themselves in the mix heading into the festive period.

Three points would be a welcome gift when they board the bus for the long journey back down south after the game.

But with two sides not used to that winning feeling, is a stalemate the most likely outcome?

With just one defeat in 21 League One fixtures this season, Portsmouth are certain of top spot for Christmas as they nurse a seven-point cushion at the top.

It is four wins in a row since that shock 4-0 home loss to Blackpool, with 10 goals and not a single one conceded.

At the opposite end of the scale, today's opponents Fleetwood have lost their past four and could end the day bottom.

The good run in autumn under Lee Johnson has evaporated, with the team not out of the relegation zone since August.

Everything points towards three points and for both sides to continue on their current trajectories, but football doesn't always work like that.

Morecambe's past three league games have produced a 5-0 away win, a 6-0 defeat and a draw with leaders Stockport. Good luck guessing how they will fare at home to improving MK Dons.

Accrington have won none of their past four since beating Wrexham and will hope to change that as they welcome Walsall, fresh from two successive wins.

Tranmere need points to pull away from the two clubs below them at the bottom as they face Swindon, while Grimsby, unbeaten under new boss David Artell, could leapfrog opponents Harrogate with three points.

Image source, PA Media

Elsewhere on BBC Sport, you can follow the latest from the Premier League and the Championship.

In Saturday's early kick-offs, West Ham beat Manchester United with two second-half goals in the top flight, while Leeds thrashed second-placed Ipswich 4-0 at Elland Road - reducing the gap between the clubs to seven points.

Owain Gwynedd Griffith
BBC Final Score at Stok Racecourse

A fair bit of excitement in North Wales ahead of this Welsh derby.

Most are backing Wrexham for all three points but former Wales international and ex-Newport striker Nathan Blake is backing County.

He is pointing to the fact that Wrexham have conceded the third-most goals out of the top 12 teams in League Two.

Wrexham have just run out to a warm round of applause, swiftly followed by loud jeering for visiting Newport. Definitely some needle in this fixture for the fans.

It was going encouragingly for bottom club Sutton.

Through to the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2016, it looked like they were gathering some momentum in their fight to avoid relegation after a seven-game unbeaten run in League Two and the FA Cup.

Then came Stockport County.

As Paddy Madden stroked in his third, and the league leaders' eighth goal, Matt Gray must have feared the worst.

His sacking, sadly not unexpected after that record defeat, gives caretaker Jason Goodliffe the challenge of putting shattered confidence back together.

That will be tough against Nigel Clough's ever-competitive Mansfield, who have lost only one league game all season and are more durable than a battery of copper-topped batteries.

Cue D:Ream and Yazz on the sound system in the home dressing room.

It's not known how close Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel came to calling their 1970 all-time classic "Bridge over Unfinished Business" - probably not very - but it has been nabbed to sum up the rivalry in this most un-local of local derbies.

These two Welsh clubs may be "on different planets" at opposite ends of the country, 125 miles apart, but that's close enough when you want to settle a few scores.

And one score in particular still rankles for Wrexham: Newport's 2-0 win at Wembley in the 2013 Conference play-off final.

Victory took Newport back into the EFL and sentenced Wrexham to a decade in the non-league long grass.

County's successes since then - including beating the Dragons in their most recent meeting in the FA Cup five seasons ago on their way to the fifth round - have added to Wrexham's determination to rise again.

Their Hollywood owners are super-charging that rise and a win in the first EFL meeting with Newport since 1988 will fuel belief they'll be waving to their southern rivals from a higher division next season.

The Racecourse, with its temporary 2,289 all-seater Kop stand now open, will be rocking.

Nobody in the ground will fancy being left weary and feeling small.

Image source, Rex Features

A little bit of history is being made in Morecambe today, as Dean Lewington lines up for Milton Keynes Dons for the 770th time in a league fixture.

That ties the record number of appearances made by a player for a single club in the English Football League.

Lewington equals the record held by John Trollope, who played 770 league games for Swindon Town, and he will surpass that figure if he features at home to Colchester on Boxing Day.

Image source, Rex Features

There have already been eight games played in this round of fixtures in League One and League Two, starting with Derby's 3-1 win over Lincoln on Thursday.

On Friday, Stockport maintained their six-point lead at the top of League Two with a 2-1 win over Notts County, while Troy Deeney's first match as manager of Forest Green Rovers ended in a goalless draw against Gillingham.

• Accrington v Walsall
• Grimsby v Harrogate
• Morecambe v MK Dons
• Sutton v Mansfield
• Tranmere v Swindon
• Wrexham v Newport

• Barnsley v Stevenage
• Blackpool v Bristol Rovers
• Bolton v Leyton Orient
• Carlisle v Cheltenham
• Charlton v Burton
• Northampton v Oxford
• Portsmouth v Fleetwood
• Reading v Wigan
• Shrewsbury v Peterborough
• Wycombe v Port Vale

Hello and welcome to our text coverage of Saturday's action in League One and League Two.

There are 10 games in the third tier and six in the fourth. We've got everything from a Welsh derby (of sorts) to a 39-year-old equalling a long-standing English Football League record - and a lot more besides.