Lambert in same mould as Walcott

ENGLAND’S Theo Walcott is not the only striker who is openly greedy – Bristol Rovers’ top-scorer Rickie Lambert has also admitted snaffling more than his fair share of chances.

Walcott bagged a hat-trick for England against Croatia on Wednesday and confessed his goal haul came from a conscious decision to concentrate on shooting rather than passing, something Lambert has learned as well.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be selfish,” said Rovers’ 26-year-old marksman, who has scored in every league game this season.

“I’ve gone through it myself, and passed it when I should have shot,” he said. “It’s frustrating after the game, going through it in your mind. It was a brilliant game for Theo, so congratulations to him.”

Like Walcott with England, Lambert took some time to establish himself in the hearts of the Gas supporters. But since the Liverpudlian’s first goal finally came in his 10th appearance he hasn’t turned back.

“It was a pretty bad start from my point of view and I did try and emphasise to the fans that this is not me, I am a lot better than what you are seeing at the minute,” he said.

“Then I put my head down and made sure I could show the fans what I’m really about. And hopefully that’s what I’ve done over the last year or so.”

He scored 10 in his first season, 19 in his second and already has six in the bank just five games into Rovers’ current campaign.

And the highlight of his 99 starts and 35 goals? “Bristol City!” he replied without hesitation, referring to the goal that knocked the Robins out of the League Trophy in 2007. “No, really it would have to be promotion and the play-off final.”

As far as his 100th start goes, which will come tomorrow against Walsall, the most pertinent of his strikes is the 34th-minute header which gifted Rovers all three points against the Saddlers in April.

“We played well that game,” said Lambert. “We thought we deserved the win. Hopefully we can follow it with another one on Saturday.”

The 6ft 2in front man has earned his right to be selfish and will be fighting off Chris Lines to take the free-kicks at the Memorial Stadium after his last strike came from a 22-yard dead ball opportunity.

Greed has it’s limits though, and diplomacy ruled out any heady declarations from Lambert of maintaining his scoring streak for the rest of the season.

He said: “I want (my run) to carry on as long as possible. But I won’t be thinking past Saturday. If I don’t score, but we win, then I won’t be bothered.”