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Matty Hewitt

League One promotion chasing bosses have their say on the battle to go up

The race to make the League One play-offs is going to head to the wire with four teams battling it out for three places. The title looks set to go to either Wigan Athletic or nRotherham United with MK Dons boasting a slim outside chance.

If Liam Manning's side end up out of the running for a spot in the top two, they're almost certainties for a play-off berth, with an eight point gap to Sheffield Wednesday in seventh, who have four games to play. Realistically, Plymouth Argyle, Sunderland, the Owls and Wycombe Wanderers are the four sides fighting for the three play-off places, with one set to miss out.

Argyle are currently in fourth on 79 points after their 1-1 draw with Sunderland, but have just two games left to play this season, while the Black Cats and Darren Moore's side have games in hand. Gareth Ainsworth's Wycombe currently reside in fifth two points behind the Pilgrims having also played 44 games.

READ MORE: Alex Neil 'very, very hopeful' that Alex Pritchard will return next weekend

Alex Neil's Sunderland can move above both sides and sit on 80 points if they win their game in hand against Rotherham United, while Moore's Owls can go one better and move to 82 points, if they win their respective games in hand. It's very much all still to play for and all four play-off chasing bosses have had their say as we approach the final furlong.

Plymouth - Steven Schumacher

"I think it has been clear for a while it's going to go to the wire," Schumacher said after the draw with Sunderland. "Everybody in the top seven, eight positions in the league are all playing well.

"I felt it was a good game, especially first half. The quality was really high, we passed the ball well. We created some good chances and were maybe unfortunate on a couple of occasions not to get the winner, and also a little bit careless on a couple of occasions as well.

"If the pass was a little bit better we might have been in and created a better chance for us to score. The second half was closer, a bit more scrappy, but it's another point in the right direction."

Sunderland - Alex Neil

Speaking after Sunderland's draw with Plymouth Argyle, Alex Neil told Chronicle Live : "It's acceptable, but I'm not delighted - I'm not standing here buzzing that we have drawn the game. We set out to win the game and I think you could see from the substitutions that we tried to be more aggressive with our style and our stance, but unfortunately when we made the subs I felt we didn't control the ball enough then.

"And if you don't control the ball enough when you put those players on, it can be counter-productive. The likes of [substitutes] Patrick [Roberts] and Dan [Neil], we didn't get enough into them and we didn't get enough from them in terms of impact in the final minutes. We've come down here, we've got a point, and I told the lads 'when you're not at 100 percent and playing as well as you can play, you make sure you don't lose'.

"That's what all the successful teams have got in common - they don't get beat when you are at 80 percent of whatever. We didn't play poorly. We came to a really difficult venue, controlled large parts of the game, but just didn't do enough."

Wycombe Wanderers - Gareth Ainsworth

“It was a tough game as Wimbledon are scrapping and are fighting for their lives," Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth told the Bucksfreepress after their draw with AFC Wimbledon. "Even though they had one shot on target but it came from a deflected header so fair play to Jack Rudoni, we had 17 and five on target.

“We need to do a lot better and make them count when they come because teams like Wimbledon are going to scrap and fair play to them. They were great with their fight, desire, and physicality.

“Mark [Bowen] has picked a big team against us and it worked for them until at half-time when I needed to have a few words and ring the changes after 10 minutes. Bayo [Akinfenwa] came on and made the difference but I thought Sullay [Kaikai] and Anthony also playing their part.

“That’s 10 unbeaten and at the Easter weekend, the lads looked tired and I thought we were unrecognizable during a few moments and that’s down to me. It’s obviously difficult with Anis, Curtis, and Jack being out with Lewis Wing being suspended. Those things have gone against us but if you’re not at your best and you get a point away from home, I think that’s great.”

Sheffield Wednesday - Darren Moore

"It keeps the momentum going," Moore told Yorkshire Live after their win over MK Dons. "We have got four games left but I am looking to Tuesday's game. It will be a different game mentally and physically.

"We get back on the team bus and we will start preparing for Crewe and we will work from there. It is one game at a time.

"I let everyone else talk about it but you won't hear me talking like that."

Go here for all the latest Sunderland AFC news.

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