Leeds United and Huddersfield Town keen to avoid fatal blow to promotion hopes

But there can be little doubt the warning to Julius Caesar from William Shakespeare's soothsayer is appropriate when it comes to the promotion hopes of Leeds United and Huddersfield Town.

For Leeds, the next three weeks are arguably their most difficult of the season with visits to a resurgent Southampton and leaders Norwich City sandwiching a televised home game with League One's form team Millwall.

It is a similarly taxing schedule for Huddersfield, who host Norwich and third-placed Charlton Athletic either side of a trip to Leyton Orient.

A bad run of results for their team and Grayson or Clark may well be looking back on March as the month that inflicted a fatal blow to their promotion ambitions.

Leeds are, with 11 games remaining, looking the more likely of the two West Yorkshire rivals to be kicking off next season in the Championship.

Tuesday night's win at Tranmere may have been only the fourth time in 12 attempts since the turn of the year that Grayson's men have claimed maximum points, but the convincing manner of the 4-1 triumph at Prenton Park and, perhaps most important of all, the return to goalscoring form of Jermaine Beckford means United travel to St Mary's this weekend with renewed confidence.

A draw against a Saints side who have scored 10 goals in their last two home games would be a decent result, especially as two of their rivals for automatic promotion, Millwall and Charlton, meet at The Den.

The following Saturday also sees two more of the contenders for a place in the top two go head-to-head when Norwich travel to Swindon before the spotlight switches to Elland Road for the visit of the Lions.

Kenny Jackett's men have become something of a bogey side for United with the Londoners' semi-final play-off victory last May being followed by a 3-1 win when the two clubs met in the capital earlier this term.

Millwall have also claimed 26 points from 11 games in 2010 so will not lack belief for the trip to Yorkshire. Neither will they be daunted by United's record of having lost just once on home soil in the league this term.

But the Lions will have to deal with the pressure of knowing that a win is imperative if they are to reel in Leeds and claim automatic promotion come the season's end, something Ken Bates believes can work to the advantage of Grayson's side.

The United chairman said: "The next few games will go some way to deciding both our fate and that of the three teams we play. The difference is the clubs we will be playing will be needing to win, whereas a few of the clubs we have played recently have needed not to lose.

"That makes for lousy matches to watch, but these teams need points. They will have to come at us and it will be a more open game.

"We are as good as anyone, if not the best. But it takes two to tango.

"We have beaten Norwich and Southampton here, but Millwall beat us there so we owe them one."

Over at the Galpharm Stadium, the priority is reclaiming a place in the top six after back-to-back defeats at Southampton and Gillingham saw Clark's men slip out of the play-off places.

A visit from the leaders is, perhaps, not the ideal game to face after two such disappointing setbacks but if Town, who sorely missed Lee Peltier at St Mary's and the Priestfield Stadium, can bounce back and beat Norwich then the boost to morale could be invaluable.

With Charlton, Millwall and Colchester due to visit Huddersfield during the run-in and all five of their remaining away games being against sides from the lower half of the table, the Terriers' fate is in their own hands.

It is a similar story down the A62 where once Swindon have been to Elland Road on April 3, United face only one other promotion contender – Charlton at The Valley on May 1 – in their final seven games.

On paper, both appear to be kind run-ins to underline just how important the next three games could be for West Yorkshire's two representatives in League One.

Caesar may have made the fatal mistake of failing to heed the warning about March 15, but it is unlikely either Grayson or Clark will be under-estimating the importance of this potentially season-defining month.

REMAINING FIXTURES

LEEDS UNITED

Mar 13: Southampton (a)

Mar 22: MILLWALL (H)

Mar 27: Norwich (a)

Apr 3: SWINDON (H)

Apr 5: Yeovil (a)

Apr 10: SOUTHEND (H)

Apr 13: Carlisle (a)

Apr 17: Gillingham (a)

Apr 24: MK DONS (H)

May 1: Charlton (a)

May 8: BRISTOL ROVERS (H)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN

Mar 13: NORWICH (H)

Mar 20: Leyton Orient (a)

Mar 27: CHARLTON (H)

Apr 3: Wycombe (a)

Apr 6: OLDHAM (H)

Apr 10: Brentford (a)

Apr 13: WALSALL (H)

Apr 17: MILLWALL (H)

Apr 24: Stockport (a)

May 1: COLCHESTER (H)

May 8: Exeter (a)