How are Plymouth Argyle's rivals faring at the bottom of the league?

ONLY Bristol Rovers have a better record than Plymouth Argyle out of the bottom 10 clubs in League Two over the period of their last eight games.

The fight to escape relegation to the Football Conference has been hotting up over recent weeks.

While Rovers, Argyle, Barnet and Aldershot Town have all picked up double-digit points tallies from their last eight fixtures, other clubs have been on the slide.

Rochdale, Dagenham and Redbridge, York City and Torquay United have all been dragged into the scrap for survival because of their poor results.

Currently, only six points covers Dagenham in 15th position and bottom-of-the-table Wimbledon.

Dagenham, York and Aldershot have also played one more match than their relegation rivals.

Argyle have played eight times since John Sheridan was appointed as manager on January 6 and their record is three wins, three draws and two defeats for a respectable 12 points.

When Sheridan took over the Pilgrims had played more matches than most of the teams towards the bottom of the table, but they have now all caught up.

Argyle have played several of their relegation rivals of late and are now facing a run of matches against promotion contenders.

The Pilgrims have a stern test this Saturday, taking on table-topping Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium.

Bristol Rovers installed John Ward as manager at the end of December, when he was all set to become the director of football at Home Park, and the results have been there for all to see.

The Pirates have risen to 17th in League Two after winning four and drawing two of their last eight games for a points tally of 14 – two better than Argyle and three more than Barnet for the same period

Barnet, under the leadership of former Dutch international Edgar Davids, had been unbeaten in four games until losing 2-1 to the Pilgrims at Home Park last Saturday.

Aldershot dropped into the League Two relegation zone after they were beaten 2-1 by Argyle at the Recreation Ground on February 9.

Since then, Dean Holdsworth has been replaced as their manager by Andy Scott and the Shots are now sitting in 19th spot.

They have picked up 10 points from their last eight games with a record of two wins, four draws and two defeats.

Scott, the former Brentford and Rotherham United boss, has been their manager for three matches and overseen one victory and two draws.

Wimbledon have picked up nine points from their last eight games, which is two more than 22nd-placed Accrington Stanley, who have had only one win over that period.

That was a 3-0 triumph at Rochdale on February 26 when former Argyle left-back Lee Molyneux scored with two expertly-taken free-kicks.

Rochdale have collected only six points out of a possible 24 to fall to 16th position in League Two, and will host Argyle at Spotland on the last day of the season – April 27.

Former Pilgrims' defender Keith Hill was appointed as Dale's manager on January 22, after the sacking of John Coleman.

Since then, his new side have played seven times and won only once.

Dagenham have won one and drawn two of their last eight games for five points and are still reeling from the departure of long-serving manager John Still to Conference club Luton Town.

Former Argyle midfielder Wayne Burnett was Still's assistant and has now stepped up to the role of interim boss until the end of the season.

Dagenham have played twice under Burnett, drawing 1-1 at Bradford City last Wednesday before losing 1-0 at home to Chesterfield on Saturday.

York have picked up only four points from their last eight games, which led to the sacking of Gary Mills after the 2-0 defeat at home to Bradford on Saturday.

Mills has been succeeded by former Norwich City and Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington, and his first match is a crunch clash at Wimbledon this weekend.

That leaves Torquay, who ended a run of seven successive defeats with a 0-0 draw away to Accrington last Saturday but are now two points above the relegation zone.

The 20th-placed Gulls have had only one win in 15 games, which was when they beat Exeter City 1-0 at St James' Park on January 28.

The long-term absence of manager Martin Ling because of what has been described as a 'debilitating illness' must have had an impact on Torquay.

Alan Knill has recently been brought in as Torquay's manager on a contract until the end of the season and he will hope the draw at Accrington has stopped the rot.