The path becomes ever narrower. Sunderland's route to the play-offs - and, hopefully, promotion - is perilous and strewn with obstacles.
The international break meant that Sunderland had no match at the weekend, allowing Sheffield Wednesday to play their game in hand and climb into the top six at the Black Cats' expense, while Ipswich's win against Plymouth kept the Tractor Boys' faint hopes alive. With only seven games remaining, Alex Neil's side is one of seven realistic contenders for the four play-off spots.
At this stage, of that group, in-form MK Dons look a safe bet to occupy one of those places, and Plymouth are also in a strong position although they have played one game more than all-but one of their rivals. There is little to choose between Oxford, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, and Wycombe, who are separated by only three points and have all played the same number of games, while Ipswich are the outsiders with ground to make up and - like Plymouth - one game fewer left to play.
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The race for the play-offs is tight and seems certain to go all the way to the final day of the season. From Sunderland's point of view, a campaign which at the turn of the year was on course for an automatic promotion challenge has become a scrabble for a play-off place.
After a disastrous January which spilled over into February, the fact that they are still in with a chance at all owes much to their recent uptick in form. They are unbeaten in six games, a sequence consisting of three wins and three draws.
A comprehensive win at automatic promotion-chasing Wigan, and back-to-back victories against strugglers Fleetwood and Crewe that came despite below-par performances on Wearside. But the three draws have been damaging, and may yet come back to haunt Sunderland in the final analysis.
They needed a last-gasp equaliser at home to rescue a point against struggling Burton, while impressive performances on the road against modest opposition in Charlton and most recently Lincoln ended goalless. It means that, between now and April 30, Sunderland have virtually no margin for error.
Gillingham, Shrewsbury, and Cambridge, are all due to visit the Stadium of Light in the run-in, while the final day sees them visit a Morecambe side whose relegation fate may already be sealed - but alternatively may need a win to survive. Sunderland cannot afford to drop any more points against teams in the lower reaches, because they also face three of the current top six in the final month of the season.
They visit Oxford a week on Saturday, and Plymouth on Easter Monday, knowing that to foul up against a play-off rival would be a catastrophe. Leaders Rotherham will come to the Stadium of Light for the penultimate game of the season, and while the Millers are likely to have secured automatic promotion by then, the last thing the Black Cats want is to go into that game knowing that it is win-or-bust.
There are grounds for optimism, with January additions Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts starting to come into their own, and the prospect of Nathan Broadhead and Alex Pritchard returning from injury. And Jermain Defoe's poorly-timed retirement last week will only have an impact if Ross Stewart suffers injury problems in the final few weeks.
But whichever way you look at it, Sunderland have a difficult month ahead. Promotion remains the yardstick by which this season will be judged, and at this point they are fighting just to earn a ticket into the end-of-season, one-in-four, lottery.
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