What managers of Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion rivals Ipswich Town, Barnsley and Plymouth Argyle made of Manic Monday

Sheffield Wednesday ceded their position of strength with a three-week wobble but pushed themselves back on track with three points on a ‘Manic Monday’ of results that saw the Owls go top once again.

Games in hand mean that automatic promotion is out of their hands ultimately - but the Easter Monday madness served as a reminder that there’s a whole load of twists and turns to come.

Here’s what the managers of the rest said this week.

Steven Schumacher - Plymouth Argyle

In perhaps the biggest shock of Manic Monday, Plymouth lost 2-0 to a resurgent Lincoln City who are having quite an impact on the title race in their own right.

The Pilgrims have lost two of their last five but collected three wins in the middle so can hardly be described as out of form heading into the final run-in.. unless.

They take on Devon rivals Exeter City on Saturday at St James Park and the Grecians will be doing all they can to disrupt their progress.

Schumacher: “The next game is a good one for us, away at Exeter, which is a huge game for us, so hopefully we can get a reaction out of the players.

“We are second in the league with a game in hand on Sheffield Wednesday.

“There are six games to go and we know there are going to be twists and turns. I keep saying that every week.

“We have just got to try and do better if we can and play better than we did today, taking our chances when we get them and make less errors. Otherwise you get punished.

“Obviously we are disappointed with the result. We didn’t show enough quality today, we didn’t do enough to get back in the game.

“We are going to need more energy because I felt we looked a little bit tired today.

“We started the game quite well. The first 20 minutes we played some good stuff, we were on the front foot and probably should have scored and taken the lead. But we didn’t.

“We missed a couple of chances and then got counter-attacked again from one of our corners, which is disappointing. Lincoln scored and probably from then on looked comfortable.”

Kieran McKenna - Ipswich Town

Heading into Monday, Ipswich’s form was as good as anything we’ve seen in any division for some time; winning eight on the spin and not conceding in nine.

Then came a trip to Cheltenham Town - like Lincoln, a side that took points of Wednesday - who equalised late on in a match relatively evenly contested.

With Wednesday’s win over Accrington Stanley, the Tractor Boys dipped out of the top two but crucially have that game in hand.

They take on Charlton Athletic at Portman Road on Saturday.

McKenna: “This is why it's such a difficult league. It's not easy because the challenges are so varied. As I said before the game, people think going to Bolton and Derby are more difficult games than this one, but this challenge was just as big."

“We've been on a really good run, but we were never going to win every game until the end of the season. The difficulty of the league and difficulty of football pretty much dictates that.

“It's how you react when you don't win that's so important over the course of a season.

“It's another point. Hopefully every point matters at the end of the season. Let's see.

“There were some good things in the performance. We've created much more chances than the opposition, had much more of the game. If keep doing that then we'll see what we get in the end.

“It's the quickest turnaround of the season and we're playing in these conditions against a team with good home form. It might end up being a good point. You don't know.

“A draw is always better than a defeat, that's for sure. It keeps an unbeaten run going and keeps some momentum going into the Charlton game (at home on Saturday)."

“The players are pretty good in there. They know we now have two home games we can go and attack (Port Vale at home next Tuesday).

“We've just got to keep attacking each challenge as it comes and enjoy where we are.”

Barnsley - Michael Duff

A wobble of sorts in recent weeks since that win over Wednesday, Barnsley collected three points on Monday - but not without a frisson on anxiety with Nicky Cadden sent off and a late goal from Shrewsbury Town.

Five points back, they’re very much a part of the automatic promotion conversation.

The Tykes’ celebrations irked their gaffer, however.

“I don’t like ‘whooping it up’ in the dressing room,” Duff said post-match. “If you are used to winning often enough, you don’t need to celebrate like that.

"You don't need to wind people up, because you just go 'well, we've won' and crack onto the next one. That's what I told them. At the end, I told them in no uncertain terms that it was not for me, that (scenes after the final whistle).

“Whether it was us winding them up or them winding us up, walk off the pitch, we have just won a game. You don't need to get involved.

"There were some strange decisions in the game and it escalated into the mess that it was in the end.