Bristol Rovers’ rivals issued similar advice as Mansfield Town & Port Vale bosses urge players to “stay calm”

Four promotion chasing sides including Salford City and Newport County will face off in League Two action on Monday with the landscape set to change again ahead of next weekend’s final round of fixtures.
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An incredible afternoon at Spotland Stadium yesterday saw Bristol Rovers strengthen their chances of automatic promotion to League One next season.

After a thrilling 4-3 win, with Aaron Collins getting a winner in the fifth minute of injury time, Joe Barton’s side are now level on points with third place Northampton Town who drew 1-1 at home to Exeter City.

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The Cobblers have a superior goal difference by five which keeps them in the final automatic promotion place but things could take a drastic change on Monday with two key fixtures taking place.

Both Mansfield Town and Port Vale have the opportunity to go third if they win their respective matches against Salford City and Newport County.

Meanwhile, their opponents also still have a chance of making it into the play-offs with so much to play for going into the final round of fixtures.

Ahead of tomorrow’s matches there has been similar advice sent out to the Mansfield and Port Vale players by their bosses - stay calm.

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Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough said: “We’ve tried to [keep the atmosphere calm around the club], we tried to at half-time on Tuesday night against Stevenage when we weren’t playing very well.

“There’s no point us getting panicky at this stage.

“We have to stay calm and be as composed as we can going into the last two games.

“We’ve tried to do it [remain calm] for 44 league games and so we’re not going to change now.”

Meanwhile, Port Vale interim manager Andy Crosby has similar advice for his players, saying: “I think it is really important that you stay calm and you focus on yourself.

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“I think panic often sets in, blame sets in, pointing the fingers at others sets in.

“It is important that you take care of yourself and get your own house in order.

“Then if you do that then the collective comes back to the party and the performance goes back up. So, that has been a lot of the focus this week, making sure that your preparation is good as an individual, then the team will then function better.”

“We don’t know which Newport are going to turn up. We have to prepare for the best Newport performance of the season and, if we do that, we have to play really well.

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“That is what we have to set out to do, perform to our max. If we do that, then we are a really good team.”

Remaining League Two fixtures

Here are the remaining fixtures in League Two:

Monday, May 2

  • Salford City v Mansfield Town
  • Port Vale v Newport County

Saturday, May 7

  • Harrogate Town v Sutton United
  • Barrow v Northampton Town
  • Stevenage v Salford City
  • Hartlepool v Colchester
  • Mansfield Town v Forest Green
  • Newport County v Rochdale
  • Walsall v Swindon Town
  • Leyton Orient v Tranmere
  • Bradford City v Carlisle
  • Oldham Athletic v Crawley Town
  • Exeter City v Port Vale
  • Bristol Rovers v Scunthorpe

All matches on Saturday, May 7 are scheduled for 3pm kick offs.

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