 The club's success in the cups had placed great strain on the side having played fifty games by the beginning of March.Norwich City had overtaken them at the top and promotion rivals Swindon Town, Millwall and Huddersfield Town gained ground.United eventually fell out of the automatic promotion zone after a 3–0 defeat at home to Swindon but they recovered and went into the final game of the season versus Bristol Rovers at Elland Road simply needing a win to get promoted at the third time of asking.