Cosgrove is a smash hit for Dons says on song team-mate Ball

DOMINIC Ball is adamant Sam Cosgrove is a smash hit with his goalscoring exploits at Aberdeen.

Dons midfielder Ball delivered his own ode to Cosgrove at a players’ game night on Wednesday, which was filmed by team-mate Joe Lewis, and he reckons the 22-year-old has grown into a starring role.

After a slow start to his Pittodrie career, Cosgrove now has 16 goals for the season and is behind only Alfredo Morelos in the Premiership scoring charts.

He has been popularised by Dons fans chanting ‘Sammy Cosgrove, Ballon d’Or’ to the tune of Dario G’s Carnival de Paris, the official song of the 1998 World Cup.

B a l l ’s o w n mu s i c a l tribute is testament to the emergence of a new star in the red of Aberdeen.

He said: “It star ted towards the end of last season and it was just a bit of a laugh then and it was kind of funny. Since then, he’s sort of lived up to it a little bit.

“I think it’s brilliant: Sammy for Ballon d’Or. I say it to him every day, after every game, ‘mate you’re actually on for winning the Ballon d’Or’.

“You can’t say anything about how he’s been performing but the fact that everyone’s speaking about the Ballon d’Or, he’s dealing with it.

“I think sometimes it takes time to get used to playing first-team football.

“The gaffer and his staff have put their trust in him to go in there. When you get that goal, it gives you that confidence.

“He hadn’t scored a goal really. As soon as you get on that run, get the games, get the confidence, you can start i mproving and developing and we’ve seen that from Sam.

“You can see it in training, he’s starting to become an all round player.

“It’s helping the team massively.”

Sam Cosgrove has scored 16 goals this season.