Whitton United pulled out of the league on Thursday and that was followed by Rovers' 2-1 victory over Felixstowe & Walton United on Saturday.

Whitton's record has been expunged after they pulled out, citing resignations of first team manager and coach, loss of supporting staff and transferring out of numerous players as their reasons.

From facing a ten-point gap and the prospect of having to jump above three teams to survive life in The Ridgeons League Premier Division, Rovers are now five points from safety and only need to finish ahead of two teams.

"It's been the best week of the season so far," said manager Peter Betts. "With Whitton pulling out and the win over Felixstowe we've made up five points on Woodbridge (third bottom) in the space of three days.

"The match with Felixstowe on Saturday was our biggest game of the season we got three points."

And Betts was also delighted with the boisterous noise created by the home crowd, attributed to three young supporters with an air horn and their loud chanting.

"It was brilliant," he said. "I know numbers wise it wasn't as high but noise-wise it was excellent.

"That's what we need week in week out and would be nice to see a few over at Wivenhoe, because there should be a big crowd there with it being Julian Dicks' first home match as manager there."

The ex-West Ham legend will have to find a way for his Wivenhoe team to keep Martin Westcott quiet.

Westcott struck twice to give Rovers' victory against Felixstowe, taking his recent goal tally to nine in seven matches.

"I'm really pleased with my form, it's nice to be getting chances," said Westcott. "The lads at the back deserved a win, they did a great job."

Betts changed Rovers' system from 4-3-3 to 4-1-4-1 which handed Stuart Kingham a recall and the defensive midfielder, who kept the dangerous Paul Berry quiet all match, did enough to win his place in the side at Wivenhoe on Saturday.

Betts said: "We asked a lot of questions of Stuart before the match and mentioned Paul Berry, and Andrew Claydon and Gavin Crane, all very good players.

"His job was to stop them playing and he did that really well."

Kingham's success means Joe Harvey is only likely to make the bench when he returns from his latest injury on Saturday.

Neil Cogger will be available for the trip to Wivenhoe despite being sent off against Felixstowe on Saturday.

The FA are considering whether to extend the winger's ban and Rovers have confirmed they will lodge an appeal should it be anymore than the mandatory three-match suspension for their most potent attacking threat.

There was more bad news for injury-hit brothers Marc and Paul Abbott, who will be out for the rest of the season with knee and leg injuries respectively.