Plymouth Argyle's cushion at the summit and in the automatic promotion places in League One shrunk considerably on Saturday afternoon, as the Pilgrims were pegged back late on to draw 2-2 at Burton Albion.

Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday earned victories to close the gap, with the Tractor Boys producing a very impressive and professional performance against a strong Exeter City side.

Argyle have been over-reliant on Michael Cooper between the posts to help them overperform defensively this season, in turn getting them on the right side of the fine margins to improve their promotion bid towards the top of the table.

Even when Ipswich went to Argyle and lost 2-1, they led 1-0 and had chances to double their lead in the second half, before two long range strikes, one taking a wicked deflection, proved to be their undoing.

The Tractor Boys other defeat in the league this season came at home to Lincoln City, a match that they dominated and were unfortunate not to come out on top.

Argyle have benefitted so far this term from opposition teams not showing them enough respect and failing to handle their frontline, but over the course of the season it feels increasing likely that Ipswich prevail in the title race.

Following Saturday's fixtures, Ipswich now have a stronger goal difference than Argyle and that will take them some way to overtaking the Pilgrims in the coming weeks.

Kieran McKenna's men have picked up seven more points than Argyle on their travels this season from the same games played, and with Steven Schumacher's side clearly more reliant on their perfect home record, a regression in that would point towards a slip in their league position.

Argyle are punching above their weight in the league table and deserve enormous credit for doing so to such an extent, but as the season progresses and injury lists grow, as a squad they are not as well accustomed to deal with losing key players, where Ipswich are able to rotate quite freely between their first and second string.

Argyle head to Portman Road on January 14th in what will be a mouth-watering encounter for neutral observers, with a chance to upset the odds once again, however, the level of control that Ipswich are having in games from early on would suggest that they will be able to inflict revenge for the loss at Home Park.

There should not be pressure on Argyle at the moment, given the quality of the sides on their heels, and the likelihood is that Ipswich climb above them in the not too distant future.