Fleetwood Town’s Paddy Madden is shocked at how close League One is this season

The 29-year-old is in his eighth season at League One level after leaving Bohemians for Carlisle United in 2010.

Injury disrupted his two-year spell in Cumbria, but after moving to another third tier side in Yeovil Town, he soon found his feet.

He scored 24 goals in the 201-13 season and the winner in the play-off final at Wembley as the Glovers pipped Brentford to the Championship.

After failing to score in the second tier, Madden dropped to a Scunthorpe United side in League Two.

His goals aided a promotion push as he went on to fire the Iron into the third tier.

Having joined Fleetwood in the 2017/18 season, the Irishman has netted on 24 occasions.

With eight games of the season to go, 11th-placed Burton Albion are only seven points behind Doncaster Rovers in the last play-off spot.

However, the team just below Burton in the table – Plymouth Argyle – are three points clear of the drop zone.

Madden said: “I’ve been playing in League One for years and years now.

“You usually, at this stage in the season, have a middle pack that cannot go up and cannot go down with nothing to really play for – but there are a lot of teams still fighting for that last play-off spot.

“There are a lot of teams that can still go down. It only makes for an interesting end to the season.”

Madden believes the fact that all teams have something to play for going into the business end gives Town a greater chance of overhauling Doncaster.

It may also be a season that sees someone relegated after collecting more than 50 points.

He said: “I think if you look at the fixtures we have, we play a lot of the teams around who we need to jump over.

“I think the relegation four is going to be a lot higher than normal.

“I was looking at the table the other day and all the way up to 12th, there are only three points in it.

“There will be no easy games for the likes of Donny who we are chasing.

“There are a lot of teams that need points coming to this point in the season.

“The teams that deserve to be in a play-off tend to hit a run and hopefully that is us.”

Madden also wants the Town fans to cheer them over the line.

He said: “For me and all the squad, we’d like to say thanks very much for all of your support so far and just keep with us. Hopefully we can do the business and make it an exciting final eight games.”