League Two Tips: Back Gillingham to keep climbing

• Bentley's men continue to struggle

• Bradford so close to top seven

• Draws count for Sutton's great home form

Gray's in-form side could be pegged back

Sutton United 2.111/10 v Doncaster Rovers 4.216/5; the draw 3.412/5

Lightning rarely strikes twice in this league. By which I mean teams struggle to put together a run of wins. Doncaster now have three, all with clean sheets. Only one was away - Luke Molyneux's brace doing the job.

Opta say Rovers were a Championship side in 2009 the last time they won four games in a row without conceding.

Can Gary McSheffrey's side push on into the top seven, having taken 18 points from 10 games? Well, so have Sutton, who have a proud home record to defend: nine wins and five out of the last unbeaten six.

James Maxwell earned a hard-fought win over Barrow on Tuesday, while Molyneux's goals were his first for the club. That seems like a long time coming. Kyle Hurst tops their scoring charts with six and Rovers' away form (five wins and three draws) could be improved if they want to leap from ninth into the playoff spaces.

Opta point out only Leyton Orient (39) and Stevenage (37) have more home points this season than Sutton. Lee Angol has settled in with two goals in as many games and David Ajiboye seems to have made a difference to the number of chances Matt Gray's side create. All that doesn't mean they will win against a team who has found some form - a draw could well happen.

Gills can add to Bentley's woes

Rochdale 3.39/4 v Gillingham 2.56/4; the draw 3.39/4

Can you believe Gillingham are top of the six-game form table? Revival under new owners - brought about by an influx of players - has been swift. Is it swift enough to bring them a long overdue second away win of the season? The first of course came against another team who struggled for the first half of the season - Colchester.

Now they have another chance of a victory at rock bottom Rochdale - who might have ideas of taking points against "fellow strugglers". However, George Lapslie, Ollie Hawkins and other new faces such as Tim Dieng and Tom Nichols will have plenty to say about that.

Neil Harris's side have lost once in six and at least took a 3-3 draw at Swindon in another recent away game.

Jim Bentley's hosts have faced some tough games recently against sides going for promotion, but have battled for all they are worth against Northampton to take a point. Sadly that was their only one in six games. That's the crux of their troubles. Everybody else seems to be that bit better.

They have conceded in each of their past eight matches. Veteran striker Ian Henderson and others are going to have to work really hard to gain anything. The visitors have every chance of another win.

Tranmere capable of holding Stags

Tranmere 2.915/8 v Mansfield 2.962/1; the draw 3.412/5

Opta sum up the difficulties faced by League Two sides: Mansfield have just won twice in a row but haven't won three in a row since an eight-game unbeaten run starting at the end of 2021. It is staggering how so few teams seem to be able to win three or more in a row - and a trip to Tranmere is not the place to achieve it.

Nigel Clough's men won their last game by a substantial margin: Carlisle were off their game and Mansfield won 4-0 away on Tuesday night. They had the points wrapped up by half-time thanks to goals by Ollie Clarke, their captain, Alfie Kilgour, Lucas Akins and Elliott Hewitt.

The manager has warned them to keep their focus for the final 16 games, with nothing achieved yet.

After such a big win there tends to be a negative reaction: not necessarily a defeat though. They followed up a 4-1 win at home to Doncaster with a 1-1 draw at Bradford.

Much the same could happen again. Tranmere, add Opta, have won each of their last two home games 1-0 - and finished 1-1 in the previous one at Prenton Park, where they are unbeaten in five.

Micky Mellon will put little solace in the fact Mansfield have not won in seven attempts at the venue (Opta again), but might like to know four of those were draws. He'll be looking to Kieron Morris, Kane Hemmings and Josh Hawkes, who have all scored twice since the turn of the year, to keep Tranmere ticking and possibility of the playoffs alive. Having conceded only 12 goals at home - the fourth best record in League Two - they at least have that chance.

Bradford Cooking up a playoff bid

Bradford City 2.111/10 v Barrow 4.03/1; the draw 3.55/2

Bradford have the perfect chance to put themselves in the playoff picture with another win to back up some great recent form. They have the chance to put three wins together for only the second time this season and would seem to be on a roll with one defeat in eight.

There have been too many draws for Mark Hughes' men to really attack promotion this season - five of them goalless. Only AFC Wimbledon have more (seven).

Striker Andy Cook continues to be a marksman who means business, scoring in three games in a row - 16 in total this season. If Jamie Walker can continue his rate of return after scoring (two successive games), the wins over Tranmere and Stevenage, then the Bantams can make up some ground on their playoff rivals.

Opta point out that Barrow have failed to score in - and lost - their last two league games. They last lost three in October. The bigger picture doesn't read much better: they have not scored in five of their past seven games, a period in which they have clocked up their first two goalless draws of the season.

Goals seem to have dried up again for Billy Waters and Josh Gordon. Ged Garner, for whom they paid a club record fee in January, has yet to score. The hosts should prevail.