Your Guide to the Relegation Run-in

Lincoln's 2-0 defeat at Torquay, the fourth loss in a row, has brought City back into the relegation battle, especially after Barnet won. 10 sides are still within a realistic chance of going down, although the main saving grace for the Imps is that there are a lot of the teams below them facing each other.

CHELTENHAM TOWN (15TH)

Cheltenham Town are top of the group of ten who are in danger of the drop. They were challenging for promotion earlier on in the season but have dropped down since then. Just five wins from the end of November onwards have seen them become heavily involved in the drop battle, not helped by five defeats in their last six, including Saturday's 8-1 defeat at Crewe.

The Robins have a decent run in though, facing of the teams below them in the table and out of form Rotherham next. Realistically they should be safe.

April 9th - Rotherham United (home)

April 16th - Burton Albion (Away)

April 23rd - Macclesfield Town (Home)

April 25th - Lincoln City (Away)

April 30th - Shrewsbury (Home)

May 7th - Stockport (Away)

MORECAMBE (16TH)

Morecambe haven't hit the heights of last season's Playoff campaign but have picked up sufficient points to see them currently have an eight point gap over the bottom two. They also have a favourable run in and face three of the sides below them and only two of the teams they face are in form.

The Shrimps' main problem could easily come with their home games, they haven't set the world alight at home this season and if that doesn't improve, expect them to struggle again next season.

Realistically they're not going to go down.

April 9th - Burton Albion (Home)

April 16th - Gillingham (Away)

April 22nd - Crewe (Away)

April 25th - Hereford (Home)

April 30th - Port Vale (Away)

May 7th - Northampton (Home)

MACCLESFIELD TOWN (17TH)

Macclesfield had been on a bit of a run before two defeats during the last week and that has seen them re-enter the group that could be caught if they go on a bad run. However, they arguably have the most favourable run out of anyone.

Only two of the teams they face have realistic promotion aspirations, whilst the rest are against midtable also-rans and relegation threatened sides.

Macclesfield should have enough to survive.

April 5th - Bradford City (Home)

April 8th - Accrington Stanley (Home)

April 16th - Chesterfield (Away)

April 23rd - Cheltenham Town (Away)

April 25th - Southend United (Home)

April 30th - Gillingham (Away)

May 7th - Hereford United (Home)

LINCOLN CITY (18TH)

Well the Imps are definitely out of form and the run in is certainly not favourable. Facing four sides challenging for promotion with just six games remaining isn't great. Four points from these sides games should be enough to secure safety.

The Imps will be looking at the games against Cheltenham and Aldershot as games to pick up good points, elsewhere might be a bit difficult. However, the Imps run in could be looked at in a different way. We've won the last three meetings against Gillingham, drawn the last three with Bury, beat Cheltenham and Oxford earlier in the season and got a good draw at Aldershot in February.

Realistically, despite facing a lot of promotion hopefuls, there will be sides who will fear for their safety a lot more than the Imps.

April 9th - Gillingham (Home)

April 16th - Crewe (Away)

April 22nd - Bury (Away)

April 25th - Cheltenham Town (Home)

April 30th - Oxford United (Away)

May 7th - Aldershot (Home)

HEREFORD UNITED (19TH)

Hereford have been very black and white this season, often going on long unbeaten runs that are followed by long runs without defeat.

Their seven games remaining all come against sides with something to play for and you wouldn't expect them to get anything against Wycombe, Chesterfield or Shrewsbury, however,y ou wouldn't bet against them getting something from the other four.

April 5th - Wycombe (Home)

April 9th - Chesterfield (Home)

April 16th - Rotherham United (Away)

April 23rd - Shrewsbury Town (Home)

April 25th - Morecambe (Away)

April 30th - Bradford City (Home)

May 7th - Macclesfield Town (Away)

BRADFORD CITY (20TH)

Bradford really need to start appreciating that they could easily get relegated. Their one saving grace is that they have a lot of games in hand and their run in contains a lot of the teams also involved in the relegation battle.

I'd be surprised if Bradford did go down as you'd expect them to get a reasonable points return from their games.

April 5th - Macclesfield Town (Away)

April 9th - Torquay United (Home)

April 15th - Southend United (Away)

April 19th - Burton Albion (Home)

April 23rd - Accrington Stanley (Away)

April 25th - Aldershot (Home)

April 30th - Hereford United (Away)

May 7th - Crewe (Home)

NORTHAMPTON TOWN (21ST)

One of the division's out of form teams and another team that seem to think they're considerably bigger than they are and that they're too big to get relegated. Think again!

Being the one of the most out of form side in the division, you can't picture them getting a lot of points from the below set of games, especially as all the teams have something to play for.

April 5th - Burton Albion (Away)

April 9th - Bury (Home)

April 16th - Wycombe Wanderers (Away)

April 22nd - Rotherham United (Away)

April 25th - Stockport County (Away)

April 30th - Stevenage (Home)

May 7th - Morecambe (Away)

BURTON ALBION (22ND)

Burton, Burton, Burton, everyone kept saying that they were in a false position because of their games in hand but they have gone about showing that having a lot of games in hand doesn't guarantee you'll get a good points return.

They have failed to pull away from the drop zone and despite still having three games in hand over the bottom two, you can't picture them in their current form getting many points from the below set of games.

April 5th - Northampton Town (Home)

April 9th - Morecambe (Away)

April 12th - Bury (Away)

April 16th - Cheltenham (Home)

April 19th - Bradford City (Away)

April 23rd - Aldershot (Away)

April 25th - Torquay United (Home)

April 30th - Southend United (Away)

May 7th - Accrington Stanley (Away)

BARNET (23RD)

A revitalised Barnet side under Martin Allen now have a good chance of staying up, that is before you look at their run in.

No-one else in the relegation battle has all their remaining fixtures against promotion chasing sides. Combine this with the fact that they've played more games than anyone else immediately above them still leaves them with a massive challenge and it's a challenge that could easily come down to the last few games.

April 9th - Crewe (Home)

April 16th - Bury (Away)

April 23rd - Gillingham (Away)

April 25th - Oxford United (Home)

April 30th - Accrington Stanley (Away)

May 7th - Port Vale (Home)

STOCKPORT (24TH)

Most see Stockport as already being down. Five points behind having played the joint most games in the division and with the worst goal difference by a country mile, it's certainly been a difficult season for the Hatters.

I don't mean to sound harsh but they deserve to go down and looking at their run below, they more than likely will. If they pull off survival then it would be considered the great escape due to how rubbish they've been throughout the season.

April 9th - Stevenage (Home)

April 16th - Shrewsbury (Away)

April 23rd - Port Vale (Away)

April 25th - Northampton Town (Home)

April 30th - Crewe (Away)

May 7th - Cheltenham Town (Home)