Rickie Lambert is hoping to see his pre-season scoring form continue when the season gets underway against Carlisle United next weekend.

The Pirates welcome the Cumbrians to the Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the opening encounter of the 2008/09 campaign.

Rickie scored one of Rovers' two goals in yesterday's pre-season clash with ADO Den Haag, as well as the only strike in the midweek win over Rotherham United.

"I don't want to tempt fate, but I'm feeling good," Rickie told bristolrovers.co.uk, "Last season I was on fire in the friendlies, but then I didn't have the best of starts in the league.

"Hopefully although I'm scoring goals now I can really start firing on all cylinders next week, when it really matters."

Rickie is likely to be paired with Darryl Duffy for the meeting with Carlisle, and it's a partnership he's looking forward to being a part of.

"I think we can still get to know each other a fair bit more, but already I can tell that he's an intelligent player who can finish well," he said.

"The more we play together the more we will learn each other's games and the better we will play as a partnership."

Yesterday, Rickie combined with Ben Hunt for an hour, a pairing that also seemed to work well.

"Ben did really well, he makes some great little runs and with his pace he gives defenders a lot of problems," he said, "He can make a lot of space for himself very quickly, and you can see how balls in behind are going to cause teams problems.