DAVID Forde could yet be playing League One football next season even if he leaves Millwall.
Forde has won promotion to the third tier with Portsmouth, who have ended their four-year stay in League Two.
Paul Cook’s side defeated Notts County 3-1 on Monday and are 10 points clear of fourth-placed Luton with three games to go.
It’s just the second promotion of Forde’s career in English football, after Millwall’s play-off win in 2010 that saw them reach the Championship.
Forde could still claim a first league title, but Pompey need to win their last three games and hope Doncaster and Plymouth collapse.
Forde’s Millwall future is in doubt, with Neil Harris set to retain stoppers Jordan Archer, 23, and Tom King, 22, next season.
Forde’s Lions contract runs out this summer, and he is a popular figure at Portsmouth, where he has played 44 times this season and kept 18 clean sheets.
Elsewhere this week, Sid Nelson came on as a 75th-minute substitute in Newport’s 6-1 defeat at Plymouth.
Despite that result, Newport are just a point off safety. They were 11 points adrift of third last in the table in early March before they sacked Graham Westley, and his successor Mike Flynn led them to five wins in eight games.
Monday’s defeat was their first in four games after three successive 1-0 wins.
In the National League, Kris Twardek and Kyron Farrell were unused substitutes in Braintree’s 3-1 defeat at Torquay. Braintree are in the last relegation spot and face a battle to beat the drop after reaching the play-offs last season.
Alfie Pavey came off the bench for Dartford in the 86th minute as they clinched a play-off place in National League South after a 3-1 win at home against Hampton & Richmond Borough.
Graphic: @ShedCreative