Brian Flynn's Doncaster Rovers opened up a five-point advantage at the top of the League One table thanks to a 3-2 victory at Scunthorpe United this afternoon.
Visiting Donny dominated the early exchanges at Glanford Park and opened up a two-goal lead courtesy of an own goal from David Mirfin and a strike by Iain Hume.
Mark Duffy pulled back a goal for the Irons shortly before the break, but the game was put beyond their reach when Chris Brown continued his positive run of goalscoring form three minutes after the restart. A late strike from Scunthorpe's Karl Hawley proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
With the match between Sheffield United and Brentford postponed, Swindon Town missed the opportunity to open up a gap between themselves in second and their nearest challengers for automatic promotion.
Despite controlling the contest, they were unable to find the net as their match against Notts County at the County Ground ended 0-0.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth kept their promotion hopes alive with a 4-1 win over Bury. Matt Ritchie hadn't scored since his January arrival from Swindon, but his strike in the 55th minute proved to be crucial as it put his new team 2-1 up, before Harry Arter and Matt Tubbs made sure of the outcome in the closing stages.
Yeovil are up to sixth with a 3-3 draw at Carlisle United, who trailed their visitors 3-1 as the match ticked into stoppage time, while struggling Portsmouth maintained their slim chances of survival after they defeated Coventry City 2-0 at Fratton Park.
The highlight in that match was Patrick Agyemang's first goal at home for struggling Pompey.
League One results in full: Bournemouth 4-1 Bury; Carlisle 3-3 Yeovil; Hartlepool 0-0 Walsall; Portsmouth 2-0 Coventry; Preston 0-0 Leyton Orient; Scunthorpe 2-3 Doncaster; Swindon 0-0 Notts County
Liam Apicella
