Aaron Collins: Bristol Rovers' top scorer on his goal run

Collins has scored 10 goals in his past 19 matches to become Bristol Rovers' top scorer this season

After waiting 18 games for his first goal, Aaron Collins has swiftly become Bristol Rovers' top scorer this season.

Collins, 24, joined from Forest Green last summer but endured a dry spell during his first months at the club.

His debut goal finally came against Oxford United in the FA Cup on 16 November, but taking that tally now to 10 has coincided with Rovers' rapid climb up the League Two table.

"It's been the spark that I think I needed," Collins told BBC Points West.

"I was doing the right things, I just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. And then once it hit once that's been it. I just feel like I've hit form and I haven't stopped scoring since."

While Collins said strikers "thrive off hitting the back of the net", he focused his energy on simply trying to score in the next match during his fallow period.

"They're always tough but I think the more they play on you mentally, the harder it's going to be," he said.

"It never affected me mentally, I was just looking for the next game, thinking I'm going to score."

Collins had a bit of "unfinished business" with Bristol Rovers when he joined last June, in what is technically his second period with the club.

Born in Newport just across the Severn Bridge, he joined Rovers' youth setup aged nine and stayed until he was 16.

Despite growing up through the club, he spent much of that final year hampered by injury and was let go as a teenager.

"It was a club which I kind of supported when I was youngster and then to come back about six, seven years later and to sign a contract here and be a professional was a little bit like I had unfinished business, maybe you would say," he added.

"Coming through the youth team you're thinking 'I want to be a pro here, I want to play for this club'. To come through and come back and play as a professional here, I know my mum and dad enjoyed that as well."

A family affair

After leaving Rovers' academy, Collins began his career with hometown club Newport County and is returning to Rodney Parade on Saturday when the Pirates face their play-off rivals.

The match has added significance for Collins with his younger brother, Lewis - also a centre forward - on the opposition side.

Aaron Collins made his debut for Newport in 2014 and returned to the club four years later for a loan spell

It is not the first time the brothers have faced each other on the pitch, having met last May in the League Two play-offs when Newport beat Forest Green - the younger Collins, 20, scored during the first leg.

And while they might be good friends, a typical sibling rivalry still exists.

"You go bowling, go play snooker there's always going to be rivalry. He always wants to be better than me," Collins said.

"Like with football, it's me kind of guiding him as well, I'm trying to guide him and put him in the best situation he can be to go and make a career out of it, because I've been through it."

Their parents might find their allegiances split during the fixture but with ninth-placed Bristol Rovers not putting automatic promotion out of the question - they are five points behind Tranmere Rovers in third and with a game in hand - an away win is the only thing Collins wants from this weekend's match.

"I'm looking forward to it because I've got a lot of mates there, a lot of family there, but then at the same time I'm hoping we can go there and get the three points. That's my main thing at the moment," Collins said.