Charlton Athletic manager Lee Bowyer appears to have thrown the towel in on automatic promotion – now he is focusing minds on the play-offs Sunderland still hope to avoid.
Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett spoke at the weekend about the high quality of League One this season, and the fact four teams have more than 80 points with 42 or 43 games gone, underlines it.
The Addicks have 79 after 43, and as they would have to leapfrog three teams in the final three games to get to where they want to be, former Newcastle United midfielder Bowyer has accepted defeat.
“It is done,” he said after his side’s not very good Friday defeat at Oxford United. “That’s done, unless they (Barnsley, Sunderland and Portsmouth) all go and lose, but that’s not going to happen. That’s it.
“We needed to win all four (remaining games), that’s not going to happen so it’s done.”
Bowyer could of course be playing psychological tricks, but it does seem the six-point gap has become unbridgeable.
However, Charlton look sure to make the play-offs and will have extra time to get their heads around that, whereas the teams who finish third and fourth will have to lift themselves after the disappointment of missing out on an automatic promotion spot which still looks very achievable for one of Barnsley, Sunderland and Portsmouth.
The Tykes are in second place at the moment with 85 points, but have played a game more than Sunderland and Pompey, level on 43 and with one another to play at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
“We’re keeping the pressure on Luton and Barnsley – to have the points total we’ve got and still be in fourth position just shows the quality of this league,” Jackett told his club’s website.
Last season Rotherham United finished fourth with the 79 points Charlton have already. They won the play-offs.
Luton Town’s 3-0 win at Accrington Stanley only strengthened the conviction that the Hatters will win the title under Sunderland-born caretaker manager Mick Harford. They hold a five-point advantage with three matches to play.
After Easter Monday’s trip to play-off contenders Peterborough United and the visit of Portsmouth, the Black Cats finish their regular-season campaign with matches at Fleetwood Town and Southend United.
They will be hoping that is it for them in 2018-19, but if they fail to finish in the top two they will need to win a two-legged semi-final, then the May 26 final at Wembley to go up.
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