Nesta McGregor
BBC Sport at The Mazuma Mobile Stadium

“One of League Two’s hottest striker’s Wrexham’s Paul Mullin is up against his former side.

"Countdown to kick-off and it’s looking like a full house. Noisy! And I am not just talking the seagulls circling overhead.

"Sidenote, with the away team’s links to Hollywood the press box is packed – we are shoulder to shoulder – as tight as sardines – thankfully not actual - with said seagulls above looking hungry."

The Spice Girls were riding high in the charts with 2 Become 1 the last time Walsall went on a six-match league winning run.

Second-bottom Forest Green may yet be saying goodbye to the EFL this spring and after five straight wins, what Mat Sadler’s men really, really want is another victory against the strugglers to make it their best winning run since February 1997.

As well as things have been going for their side, Saddlers fans might yet feel a cold pang of dread when they see who is in the Rovers dugout this afternoon, however.

Steve Cotterill has won four and drawn the other of his five matches taking charge against Walsall, including an 8-2 win and a 2-0 success with Bristol City in the EFL Trophy Final in 2015 on the Saddlers’ first ever trip to Wembley.

They've won one of their last nine at home and if Rovers can’t stop the Walsall momentum then they’ll strengthen their hold on a play-off spot this afternoon.

Image source, Rex Features

Though there might be only nine points between them, on paper Wrexham might seem a banker to win at Morecambe this afternoon.

Thankfully, however, this one is being played on grass.

The Shrimps have had a torrid time against newly-promoted sides, taking one point from four matches and shipping 14 goals.

Six of those came in the reverse fixture at the Racecourse in November, when Paul Mullin bagged a hat-trick – just as he did last time out in their 4-0 romp against Accrington.

Though they have won their last two to rise to eighth, Ged Brannan’s men have taken just five points from their last six home games played on a Saturday afternoon and have failed to score more than once in any of them.

Wrexham have won only one of their last seven on the road, failing to keep a clean sheet in that spell, but know they could go joint top of League Two with three points today and positive results elsewhere.

Image source, Rex Features

League Two leaders Mansfield will seek to make an immediate return to form when they host Swindon this afternoon.

The Stags went down 2-1 against MK Dons at Field Mill on Tuesday night and remain just three points clear of Stockport, who have a game in hand, with Wrexham, Crewe and MK all waiting to pounce on any further slip-ups.

Swindon, led by interim boss Gavin Gunning, are by no means the best travellers, with just one win in 17 on the road, but they do have a good record against Nigel Clough’s men, winning seven and drawing two of the last 11 meetings, including a 5-2 success here last season.

They are also seeking to complete the double over Mansfield, having won 2-1 at the County Ground on November 25, ending Town’s unbeaten start to the season.

Can they inflict more damage this afternoon?

Image source, Rex Features

Both sides can be forgiven for feeling a teeny bit of tension ahead of this relegation six-pointer, but it’s Vale who arguably need the points the most.

They sit six points from safety in 22nd, while Shrewsbury hover one perilous place and four points above the relegation zone after one win in seven.

Wretched doesn’t begin to cover the Valiants' recent form with three points picked up in a winless 11-match run which stretches back to 29 December.

The new manager bounce has so far failed to materialise, with one point the sole return in five matches since Darren Moore took the hotseat last month, conceding 12 goals in that run.

But it could all be about to change as Vale’s leaky defence comes up against League One’s most goalshy attack.

They have found the net just 26 times in the league this season and have failed to find the net in three of their last four, so a trend will be bucked today.

The classic cliche of two sides with very different ambitions.

Bolton are sitting handily placed in the second and final automatic promotion berth, but have fallen six points behind leaders Portsmouth after a stuttering run of three wins from their last nine League One outings.

It has also allowed the Trotters’ promotion rivals to close in - Derby are just a point behind, while Barnsley are three back with a game in hand, and fifth-placed Peterborough are also well in the hunt at five points adrift.

Exeter, meanwhile, are six points above the relegation places in 16th - part of a tightly-packed cluster of seven teams separated by just three points, all hovering perilously above the drop zone.

The Grecians are winless in four and have beaten Bolton just once at home in the league in all seven attempts. The priceless win came under Terry Cooper way back in 1991.

But Bolton’s recent away form may offer a chink of hope - they’ve picked up one point from their last three away outings.

Image source, Rex Features

Revenge may not be publicly admitted in the sub-plot, but Portsmouth’s early morning trip to the north west may be fuelled by more than diesel.

Pompey boast the best defensive record in the third tier, a factor which has helped take them six points clear at the top.

But they sank to their heaviest defeat of the season when these sides last met back in late November when the Tangerines handed out a 4-0 hammering at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth seem to be well and truly over their new year slump and seven wins in a nine-match unbeaten run has taken them seven clear of third-placed Derby in the race for automatic promotion with 10 games to come.

If Blackpool have designs on the Championship, it will be by the more circuitous route of the play-offs.

They sit two places and four points behind Stevenage who occupy the play-off spot after three wins from their last four.

They go into today’s match unbeaten in seven at Fortress Bloomfield where they have scored in their last 15 matches and seeking a fourth straight win over the south coast side.

• Accrington v Bradford City
• Barrow v Colchester
• Doncaster v Crewe
• Forest Green v Walsall
• Gillingham v Tranmere
• Harrogate v Crawley
• MK Dons v Salford City
• Mansfield v Swindon
• Morecambe v Wrexham
• Notts County v Wimbledon
• Stockport v Newport
• Sutton v Grimsby

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

There's definitely a feel of the final furlong in the air as we dive into another packed Saturday afternoon schedule.

Our runners and riders are all but into the home straight, and for many today is the day their games remaining column ticks down into single figures.

The field is still tightly packed in the race for promotion and the scramble for safety in both League One and League Two, but who will make a run for the line and who will fade?

Welcome to the fun.