Paul Trollope paid tribute to Rickie Lambert this afternoon after his sensational performance against Southend United.

The striker scored all four goals in a superb display from the Pirates that saw the visitors torn apart in a one-sided contest.

Lambert's scoring tally for the season now stands at an incredible 14, and Paul says there's plenty more to come.

"It's a big achievement for Rickie," Paul told bristolrovers.co.uk, "He is on fire at the moment, not just his scoring, but also his general play as well.

"To get a hat-trick in the first half in such a short space of time was very pleasing for him and for us, and it gave us a good half-time lead.

"We said to him we wanted four or five from him, because we felt he had it in him today. He got four, and he can rightly be pleased with his afternoon's work.

"He can go on to score 30 goals this season, and he'll be disappointed if he doesn't reach 20 by Christmas. He's fundamental to the way we play, and his fitness is as good now as it's ever been.

"Our forward play overall was very good for an hour, and then late on in the game on the counter we created some very good chances.

"People did the right things with the ball in the right areas, and we were pleased with that.

"Jo Kuffour also deserves credit because he worked hard and was a real handful for us. We've got a good set of strikers here, and they all have different attributes which serve the team well.

"Southend threw caution to the wind in the second half, and their three substitutions all made a big impact. We're nitpicking to be too critical of their two goals because it was a huge effort from us after a long week.

"It's been a very good week and a very good month, and we want that to continue at Leicester next week."