League Two's top four all won on Saturday, while Bournemouth and Grimsby recorded crucial victories.
Top four all win, Chester closer to relegation
Leaders Brentford took a massive step towards promotion after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Accrington Stanley at Griffin Park.
Sam Williams opened the scoring in the eighth minute, Ryan Dickson doubled the advantage four minutes before half-time and Billy Clarke netted the third with a 54th minute penalty after Kieran Charnock's foul on Williams.
The victory means Andy Scott's side now need just two points from their remaining three games to guarantee promotion to League One.
Exeter stayed in second after a late win at
Lincoln courtesy of a Robert Burch own goal with just two minutes to go.
Peter Taylor's
Wycombe also did their own automatic promotion hopes the world of good with a 3-0 home victory over mid-table
Aldershot.
John Akinde scored in the seventh minute, a 52nd minute Ricky Newman own goal and Matt Phillips' third on 67 minutes keep the Chairboys in third.
Fourth-placed
Bury also recorded a 3-0 victory over
Macclesfield to keep up with the pace at the top.
Andy Bishop was on target in the fourth minute and Glynn Hurst scored a second-half brace (57, 75) to seal the victory for the Shakers.
Crucial win
Gillingham moved up to fifth with a crucial 1-0 win at
Chesterfield, who dropped out of the play-off berths to eighth with the defeat.
Mark McCammon got the all-important winner in the 22nd minute to leave the Gills still three points off the automatic promotion berths.
Rochdale dropped from fifth to sixth after a devastating 2-0 home reverse to
Darlington in the day's lunchtime kick-off.
Jason Kennedy opened the scoring on four minutes and a Rory McArdle own goal on 66 minutes sealed the points for the Quakers, although their play-off hopes have virtually ended after results elsewhere.
Shrewsbury jumped into the last play-off berth after a rare 2-1 away win at
Rotherham.
Nick Chadwick scored for the Shrews in the 44th minute before Ryan Taylor equalised for the Millers with 20 minutes to play.
But the Shrews won the game - only their second away in the league all season - after an own goal from Ian Sharps on 76 minutes.
Dagenham & Redbridge leapfrogged
Bradford up to ninth in the table - just three points off the play-offs with a game in hand - after a 3-0 victory over Stuart McCall's side.
Goals from Sam Saunders (57), Paul Benson (81) and Ben Strevens (86) saw off the Bantams, who dropped to 11th with the defeat.
Morecambe win
Morecambe jumped to 10th - also three points away from the play-offs with a game in hand - after a 1-0 win over
Notts County.
Mark Duffy climbed off the substitutes' bench to score the winner with 18 minutes remaining.
At the bottom,
Bournemouth pulled away from the relegation zone with a crucial 2-0 victory at second-from-bottom
Chester.
Brett Pitman netted in the third minute and Anton Robinson with 11 minutes to go to see the Cherries pull four points above the Seals with just two games to go, with a vastly superior goal difference.
Grimsby also pulled four points above Chester with a crucial 3-0 victory over
Port Vale at Blundell Park.
On-loan striker Barry Conlon scored a brace (4, 49) and Nathan Jarman also netted (21) to seal the points for Mike Newell's side.
Barnet drew 1-1 with already relegated
Luton after Adam Birchall scored on the stroke of half-time for the Bees and Rossi Jarvis equalised for the Hatters four minutes later.
