So far this season, League Two has been nothing short of competitive. We have witnessed the unexpected spell of Morecambe topping the table, the inevitable surge of Crawley Town into first, only to be replaced by Southend United on more than one occasion. The league is still wide open, and with a number of sides believing that they can achieve promotion; The next few weeks are going to be vital, if promotion is the aim.
The top three currently stand as Southend United, Crawley Town and Cheltenham Town – all level on 52 points after 26 games. They are closely followed by Swindon Town (49 points) in 4th and Shrewsbury Town (48 points) in 5th place. Any of these teams have the opportunity to go on and win the League Two title this season, which is going to make for enthralling viewing and seeing how the campaign will eventually unfold, with the inevitable twists and turns.
Southend United and Crawley Town have already been on impressive unbeaten runs this season, but the current team with the best form is Di Canio’s Swindon Town, who have taken an impressive 19 points from a possible 24. Many fans have been left with a sour feeling after Paolo decided to state that his team will win the title! Another side that has been in a rich vein of form is Torquay United who have also taken 19 points from a possible 24 and find themselves 5 points off the top in 6th position. All this whilst Shrewsbury have managed to keep an almost perfect home record, racking up 10 wins and 3 draws from their 13 games.
Having only just passed the halfway point of the season, how can the next few weeks be so crucial? With Crawley and Swindon still in FA Cup action, Cheltenham have the chance to go top of the league and Shrewsbury can move within a point of Crawley and Southend. In addition to this, in the space of four weeks, we have all of these fixtures to look forward to:
- Southend v Swindon
- Crawley v Cheltenham
- Torquay v Shrewsbury
- Cheltenham v Torquay
- Swindon v Crawley
- Swindon v Shrewsbury
- Shrewsbury v Crawley
What a feast of fixtures! Paolo Di Canio really has the chance to prove that his Swindon team can win the league, by playing Southend (1st), Crawley (2nd) and Shrewsbury (5th) all in the space of just three weeks. We also mustn’t forget that Gillingham and Oxford United will be looking to notch a few results together and challenge for the automatics, as they currently hover at the foot of the playoffs.
All in all, what a month February looks to be for League Two. By the end of this spell of games, we may well be able to cast an opinion as to who looks most likely to achieve promotion. A winning streak during this month is going to be crucial, as the only definite outcome, is that the top teams are going to be dropping points!
Twitter: @Rich__Norton
