What Salford City need to happen to make the play-offs this weekend

Following Saturday’s damaging defeat at Colchester, Salford’s play-off hopes now lie out of their hands going into the last game of the league season.

They now lie in ninth place in League Two, two places adrift the final play-off spot in seventh, which is the highest the reds can mathematically finish.

Despite their current position, the Ammies can still claim the final play-off spot in a number of ways as they host mid-table Leyton Orient in the season finale at the Peninsula Stadium this Saturday (8th May).

For all the following permutations to occur, City MUST win their game.

Anything other than a win and Salford won’t be able to squeeze into seventh spot.

A win though may still not be enough – the Ammies will need both Forest Green Rovers and Exeter City to drop points in their fixtures this weekend, as seen in the permutations below.

If any of those two win, Salford would have to definitely settle for another season in League Two.

Permutation One- Salford win, Forest Green and Exeter both lose.

Providing Salford beat Leyton Orient, they can secure seventh if the two teams directly above them lose. Forest Green would need to lose at Greater Manchester side Oldham Athletic, while Exeter would need to get beaten by 21st place Barrow in Devon. This way would see the Ammies finish on 71 points, one ahead of FGR and two above Exeter.

Permutation Two- Salford win, both Forest Green and Exeter draw.

This way would see Salford and Forest Green finish on 71 points, but Salford would claim the prize by virtue of having a much better goal difference than Rovers. In this scenario, Exeter would finish a point behind on 70.

Permutation Three- Salford win, Exeter draw but Forest Green lose.

This would see Salford finish a point ahead of Forest Green and Exeter as they would both finish on 70.

If Salford do end up making the play-offs following one of the above scenarios, they would then be only three games away from a place in League One.

They would have to beat the fourth place side (either Bolton, Morecambe or Cambridge) over two games before playing the play-off final at Wembley Stadium on 31st May.