Ely City’s joint-manager Ben Lawrence has issued a rallying call to supporters to help cheer his side to safety as they take on Woodbridge Town at the Unwin Ground on Saturday.

Defeat for Ely, coupled with other results going against them, could see the Robins relegated and Lawrence wants a bumper crowd to give his side every chance of retaining their Thurlow Nunn Premier Division status.

He said: “We would like all of those people who came out to support us on our good run to come again on Saturday and help create a great atmosphere for the team.

“We are still not sure if three teams will be relegated this year but that is the formula we are working to and it really is a must win game for us. I’m sure there will be a few sleepless nights between now and Saturday.”

The Robins came into the game level on points with third from bottom, Diss Town, but with a significantly better goal difference. However, Diss take on second bottom Wivenhoe in their last game of the season and Lawrence expects them to claim all three points, ratcheting up the pressure on his team.

Lawrence added: “I knew it was going to come down to the last game of the season, three points are a must for us.”

The Robins’ task could have been that much easier but for a disappointing 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Stanway Rovers last week, which Lawrence described as the worst performance he had seen since he took over.

He said: “As good as we were at Felixstowe the week before, we were that bad against Stanway. We didn’t start very well and we sort of huffed and puffed and didn’t create much at all. We lacked ideas in breaking them down.

“When plan A didn’t work, we weren’t able to put in place plan B, we weren’t making passes, in fact we couldn’t string three of four together all game.”

Saturday’s match against Woodbridge kicks off at 3pm.