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It may seem like Bristol Rovers have little to play for in the last nine games of the League One season other than picking up a few more points to secure their place in the division for next year, but Joey Barton and the performances of his Players in the match will play a decisive role elsewhere.

A look at Rovers’ fixture list from now until the final day on 7 May shows a schedule loaded with some of the toughest tests saved for last. Five of the top seven remain to be played and 16th-placed Port Vale, one place below Gas, are the only team below them in the table left to face.

Such difficult assignments on paper, including top two Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday, along with a couple of disappointing results at home to Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth before an unusual 20-day break, have left some Gasheads fearful of where the fans will come from. next points. with a third level status that is not completely safe within your grasp.

But three games in the space of four days have summed up the unpredictability of this division. Most punters would have had the Owls nailed to back-to-back wins from a double header in Gloucestershire against Forest Green Rovers (24) and Cheltenham Town (17) on Sunday and Wednesday, but they returned to Yorkshire with just one point. by virtue of a late equalizer after going down 2-0 at Whaddon Road on Wednesday night.

Interspersed between those games was a trip to Exeter City for fourth-placed Barnsley, who were heavy favorites at St James Park but were handily knocked out in a 3-1 defeat against a team who are destined for a comfortable half-final. the board.

With April almost upon us, it’s the time of the season when nerves become a factor; composure and confidence fade as the finish line comes into view, particularly with little to separate the top four and three teams vying for the bottom two playoff spots.

“We’ve always said it’s going to be easy,” manager Darren Moore told Yorkshire Live on Wednesday after drawing with Cheltenham. “We’re in the mix and now. There’s still a lot of football to play and that’s against all sorts of teams with something to play for.”

Barnsley boss Michael Duff spoke of a reality check after being handed off at Exeter, ending a long unbeaten run. “It could be the warning shot we needed,” he told the Barnsley Chronicle. “We may not be the team we thought.”

The stakes are high and strange things will start to happen, and although it didn’t go as expected, the Gases are locked in the promotion battle until the end of the season.