Piece in the Bristol Evening Post.
Rickie Lambert is revelling in his role as a lone striker and hopes Paul Trollope’s latest tactic will prompt a final burst of goals to fire Bristol Rovers up the table.
Lambert set himself a target of 20 strikes for the season and hit his 16th against Swansea City on Easter Monday in the Pirates’ 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium.
Rovers are on the road again this Saturday to take on Yeovil and Lambert is looking forward to finding the net once more to banish memories of a barren spell lasting more than a month.
The Liverpudlian striker last scored in the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Southampton on February 16, his birthday. It was a memorable 84th-minute winner which earned Rovers a place in the quarter-finals but he has struggled to find the net since.
“It was a big relief”, said Lambert. “I’ve been a bit frustrated lately with my performances. Luckily I’ve scored one today. I went through a couple of challenges and luckily enough it dropped perfectly for me so I just put my head down and hit it.
“I hope to have one more burst at the end of the season. That’s kind of the way my career goes. Have a little burst and score a few goals every now and again and hopefully I’ve got one more burst left in me.”
Trollope opted to shake up Rovers’ formation at the Liberty Stadium in a bid to shake off their FA Cup hangover and will now look to the Yeovil match to end a run of five games without a win since the 5-1 defeat to West Brom.
Lambert found himself as a lone man up front in Wales as opposed to playing in his usual, deeper role. “It is a bit different and I’m enjoying it,” said the 26-year-old. “There’s a lot of closing down and running and not getting the ball. But when I did get the ball I thought I did ok with it, especially in the first half.
“I think the formation really worked for us. We went two goals up, it could have been more actually, and then went into half time confident and all credit to Swansea."
Swansea’s second-half comeback gave the Pirates’ a test which will stand them in good stead for the rest of the season, starting at Yeovil. A win at Huish Park would see Rovers leap-frog them in the League One table.
“First-half attacking and second-half defensively gives the lads a boost for the rest of the season,” said Lambert who worked his socks off for 78 minutes before being replaced by Byron Anthony. “It was a blur, I was knackered, I was absolutely gone.
“I’m not bothered about getting to 20 as long as we’re picking up points and start winning. That’s all that matters.”
Rickie Lambert is revelling in his role as a lone striker and hopes Paul Trollope’s latest tactic will prompt a final burst of goals to fire Bristol Rovers up the table.
Lambert set himself a target of 20 strikes for the season and hit his 16th against Swansea City on Easter Monday in the Pirates’ 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium.
Rovers are on the road again this Saturday to take on Yeovil and Lambert is looking forward to finding the net once more to banish memories of a barren spell lasting more than a month.
The Liverpudlian striker last scored in the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Southampton on February 16, his birthday. It was a memorable 84th-minute winner which earned Rovers a place in the quarter-finals but he has struggled to find the net since.
“It was a big relief”, said Lambert. “I’ve been a bit frustrated lately with my performances. Luckily I’ve scored one today. I went through a couple of challenges and luckily enough it dropped perfectly for me so I just put my head down and hit it.
“I hope to have one more burst at the end of the season. That’s kind of the way my career goes. Have a little burst and score a few goals every now and again and hopefully I’ve got one more burst left in me.”
Trollope opted to shake up Rovers’ formation at the Liberty Stadium in a bid to shake off their FA Cup hangover and will now look to the Yeovil match to end a run of five games without a win since the 5-1 defeat to West Brom.
Lambert found himself as a lone man up front in Wales as opposed to playing in his usual, deeper role. “It is a bit different and I’m enjoying it,” said the 26-year-old. “There’s a lot of closing down and running and not getting the ball. But when I did get the ball I thought I did ok with it, especially in the first half.
“I think the formation really worked for us. We went two goals up, it could have been more actually, and then went into half time confident and all credit to Swansea."
Swansea’s second-half comeback gave the Pirates’ a test which will stand them in good stead for the rest of the season, starting at Yeovil. A win at Huish Park would see Rovers leap-frog them in the League One table.
“First-half attacking and second-half defensively gives the lads a boost for the rest of the season,” said Lambert who worked his socks off for 78 minutes before being replaced by Byron Anthony. “It was a blur, I was knackered, I was absolutely gone.
“I’m not bothered about getting to 20 as long as we’re picking up points and start winning. That’s all that matters.”
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