Already-relegated Peterborough Unitedround off a dismal Championship campaign with the visit of Blackpool to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
Meanwhile, the visitors are sitting pretty in 16th place in the table and cannot finish any lower, but a couple of sides are there to be usurped.
While victories over Blackburn Rovers and Barnsley gave Peterborough a slight glimmer of hope that a second successive season of Championship football was on the cards, Nottingham Forest were quick to extinguish those fantasies on April 23 to send Grant McCann’s side down.
Posh’s first game since their immediate return to League One was confirmed was also a miserable affair, as a Josh Knightown goal coupled with Benik Afobe and George Saville’s efforts saw Millwall run out 3-0 winners at The Den last weekend to rub salt into McCann’s wounds.
Barnsley are already condemned to a 24th-placed finish, and the best that Peterborough can now hope for is demoting Derby County down to 23rd, with Posh level on points with the Rams ahead of their final-day meeting with Cardiff City.
Peterborough endured eight seasons of League One football before making their return to the second tier and will be desperate to ensure their fans are not left waiting that long again, but flickers of promise have been evident in the latter stages of this campaign.
However, McCann’s side have only posted one win from their last 11 Championship games on their own turf and cannot expect to be full of vigour with their fate already sealed, while Blackpool also head into the contest with nothing but pride on the line as well.
Everything that could have gone for Blackpool against Derby County did go wrong for Neil Critchley. A first-half penalty miss, an early injury and conceding two second-half goals to Malcolm Ebiowei and Eiran Cashin at Bloomfield Road.
A brief three-game unbeaten run for Blackpool came to a disappointing end that day, but unlike their upcoming opponents, they have been able to consolidate their second-tier status after spending four seasons in the doldrums of League One.
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Critchley’s side now cannot finish any lower than 16th and are only one point behind Swansea City, Preston North End and Stoke City, so ending the season as high as 13th is still a possibility for this weekend’s visitors after a solid Championship campaign.
On a more negative note, Blackpool have only posted two wins in 14 Championship away matches since the start of November, but they did ease to a 3-1 win over
Peterborough at Bloomfield Road just before Christmas and would welcome a similar scoreline to add insult to injury for their former League One counterparts.
