There was a time — and it was not long ago, perhaps November, when the Rovers sat 17th on nineteen points with a defence that could not hold a door open — when the question of Phillipa Corbett’s future was asked exclusively in terms of when she would be sacked.

The board did not sack her. They did something rarer and arguably more difficult: they waited.

On Wednesday evening, at the club offices behind the Bridgewater Stadium, Rovers chairman Conrad Vickers convened a board meeting that lasted — by his account — “less time than the Merchants’ Cup final.” The board voted unanimously to offer Corbett a two-year contract extension, through the end of the 2027-28 season, on improved terms.

Corbett, reached by telephone on Thursday morning, confirmed she has received the offer.

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it for five months. Another forty-eight hours won’t hurt.”

The numbers tell the story of the turnaround. When Corbett lost 3-0 at Thornbury in late November — the nadir, the evening when the press box consensus was that she would not survive the week — the Rovers had 16 points from 17 matches, a goal difference of minus fourteen, and a manager who looked, frankly, exhausted.

Since then: the Merchants’ Cup, won in extra time at the Foundry. Osei’s emergence as a genuine goal threat — fourteen league goals, fourth in the division. Blackshaw’s return from injury and his extraordinary capacity for heading Dunmore corners into the net. Harwick’s development from a nervous academy graduate into a centre-back who won eleven aerial duels against Thornbury Academicals. And a run of eight matches unbeaten — five wins, three draws — that has taken the club to 46 points, 14th place, and twelve points clear of relegation with five matches remaining.

“The credit belongs to the players,” Corbett said. “I picked the team. They played the football.”

Vickers, a 63-year-old retired shipping executive who has chaired the Rovers board for five years, was more direct.

“We believe in what she’s building,” he said. “The cup was extraordinary but it was also, in some ways, misleading. The league form since January is what convinced us. She changed the system, she trusted the young players, and she didn’t panic when the results didn’t come immediately. That takes nerve.”

The contract offer includes what Vickers described as “provisions for squad development” — understood to mean a modest but meaningful transfer budget for the summer window. Corbett has operated this season with no new signings and the second-smallest squad budget in the Premier Division.

“You can do a lot with players who trust each other,” Corbett said. “But you can do more with a left-back.”

The remaining five league matches — beginning at Haverford Town on Saturday — are now, in competitive terms, largely academic. The Rovers cannot be relegated and will not finish in the top half. But the form is real, the stadium is filling again — 46,100 for the Millhaven match, the highest league attendance since 2019 — and there is a quality to this team’s play that suggests the beginning of something rather than the end of it.

Whether Corbett accepts the offer will depend on the details. She has made no secret of her ambition, and a two-year deal at a lower-half club carries risks for a manager whose stock is at its highest. There will be other offers.

But the Bridgewater crowd sang her name on Saturday evening, after the third goal, and the sound of it carried across the river.

Forty-eight hours.