We weren't sure what to expect with the Sky Bet League Two play-offs but we were given five games of pure entertainment and drama; there's a strong argument that it was some of the best football we've watched since the game returned.

That's not to say it was the prettiest but rather effective, to put it diplomatically. Those games gave us goals, penalties and red cards. We couldn't have asked for a better play-off set-up in the circumstances and similar here would be fantastic for the neutral.

While League Two was fairly straightforward when it came to curtailing the division, League One had more suggestions of alternative arrangements and the points-per-game argument massively affected some. Peterborough fell out of the top-six altogether while Wycombe took their spot and became the 'top seed' with third position.

The tight nature of the play-off race was reflected in Oxford, Portsmouth and Fleetwood all finishing with 75.43 on PPG. Despite Wycombe being the third-placed team, they sit as the 9/2 outsiders for promotion.

Sky Bet League One play-off dates

First legs - Friday 3rd July

• Portsmouth v Oxford – 17:30
• Fleetwood v Wycombe – 19.30

Second legs - Monday 6th July

• Oxford v Portsmouth – 17:00
• Wycombe v Fleetwood – 19.30

Final (Wembley Stadium)

• Monday 13th July – 19.30

Portsmouth take favouritism which isn't a huge surprise given their involvement in the play-offs last season. Their appearance in the Checkatrade Trophy, a tournament they won by beating Sunderland in the final, also provides them with recent Wembley experience.

For Oxford, they have never taken part in a Football League play-off campaign before. The good news for them is that, the team which finishes fourth has been promoted more times over the last ten League One campaigns than any other position (five). Richard Wood's brace ensured Rotherham were the last team to do it in 2017/18 edition.

Joining Oxford in having a fairly rookie status in this scenario is Wycombe. Their third-place finish is their highest ever in English football; that resulted in them making their debut appearance in the third tier play-offs.

Standing in their way is Fleetwood, who have been here before as they were defeated by Bradford over two legs in 2016/17. They will be hoping to utilise the momentum gained by their 12-game unbeaten run prior to the stoppage.

In similar fashion to our League Two preview, we will use the following four factors when deciding an outright winner:

• Form at the beginning of the season
• Results following any postponed fixtures
• Results against other play-off teams
• Results in quick succession

This does have the feel of the start of a new season given the time away. Results following postponed fixtures also gives us some insight how teams adjust following previously unscheduled weeks off and the games against each other are a good indicator of how the teams match up, particularly if they were played post-Christmas.

Analysing the results for a team over a midweek period where three games have been played is another way of judging how well these teams adjust to fixtures in quick succession; these play-offs will last just ten days with the final at the unusual time of 19:30 on a Monday.

We begin by looking at the two semi-finals, where Oxford welcome Portsmouth and Wycombe take on Fleetwood.

Portsmouth v Oxford