Late starter Cosgrove aiming to chase down Rangers rival
If Sam Cosgrove should prevail in the inaugural Tartan Ball award for top scorer in the Scottish Premiership, there should be an asterisk next to his name to denote the very special circumstances.
After all, the Aberdeen striker did not deign to get involved in the race until five months into the season. There was no mentionofhalf-seasonawards when it was announced last month that the SPFL would be introducing a new tartan “boot” prize for the highest goalscorer in each of the four leagues.
If such a distinction had been made, with the start point being, say, the start of December, then Cosgrove would be out in front on his own. The 22 year-old has struck a remarkable 12 times since then, 11 of these goals coming in the league, which are the only goals that matter when it comes to the newly created award.
Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, pictured, currently leads the standings, which, unhelpfully for Cosgrove, dates back to the start of the league campaign. But even then the Aberdeen striker, who, like Morelos, scored a double when their sides met in a six-goal thriller on Wednesday night, only trails the Colombian by two goals. And who knows how many games Morelos, who has a seemingly unerring ability to attract trouble, will have to sit out between now and the end of the season?
So why shouldn’t Cosgrove have designs on being the top-flight’s top scorer come May? The last Aberdeen striker to achieve this was Adam Rooney with 18 goals in 2014-15. Prior to that, you have to go back to the days of Charlie Nicholas and Frank Mcdougall. Cosgrove is currently only five goals away from equalling Rooney’s total.
It was actually getting himself sent off in a game atibroxattheendofoctober that appears to have ignited Cosgrove’s season. He had got off the mark for Aberdeen after 16 goalless appearances with a double in the 4-2 win over St Mirren at the start of the same month. But six appearances followed where he did not build on this overdue success in front of goal. Now the floodgates have truly opened. He has scored 12 times in his previous 12 appearances. There is no debate now about who takes the penalties – Cosgrove thrashed an award past Allan Mcgregor on Wednesday. It seemed only a matter of where he would put it – straight down the middle in this instance. Earlier in the season, when Cosgrove was suffering the striker yips, the ball might well have struck Mcgregor’s knee and rebounded out again.
“I just want to score as many goals as I can,” he said yesterday. “It should be any striker’s aim to be the top scorer in the league, especially at a top club like Aberdeen where we’re always pushing most teams and scoring a lot of goals.
“I want to be the staple of that and I want to get as many goals and therefore as many 1 Alfredomorelos(rangers) 15 2 Samcosgrove(aberdeen) 13 3= Steven Naismith (Hearts) 9 3= Eamonn Brophy (Kilmarnock) 9 3= Odsonne Edouard (Celtic) 9 3= James Forrest (Celtic) 9 3= James Tavernier (Rangers) 9 8= Ryan Christie (Celtic) 8 8= Greg Stewart (Aberdeen) 8 8= Scott Sinclair (Celtic) 8
points for my team as I can.” He admitted his sudden surge in fortunes has surprised even him. One minute his name was being evoked as a reason why Aberdeen can’t win the league – teams with non-scoring strikers don’t tend to – and the next he is central to their hopes of doing so. As is often the case with forwards, scoring can become a habit. Chances fall at your feet when once they did not. The ball breaks kindly in a way that it didn’t when confidence was low.
“I wouldn’t say I expected a turnaround,” said Cosgrove. “I always knew there was potential there. I’m not a superstitious guy but there are different fortunes you can get in football. Even the first goal [on Wednesday], those type of goals didn’t fall for me at the start of the season.”
He had no qualms about taking the penalty that got Aberdeen back into the game against Rangers, the third he has converted in recent games.
“There are certain pressures in football but most players thrive under the pressure, especially the boys in our team,” he said. “I think there were a number of boys who could have taken that penalty. But I’m feeling confident at the moment and wanted to see the ball hit the net.”
When in this kind of mood the knocks and strains are more easily shrugged off. Cosgrove was toiling with a back 2 Sam Cosgrove is congratulated by Lewis Ferguson after scoring the first of his two goals against Rangers in midweek. The Aberdeen striker has now found the net 12 times in his last 12 games. problem in the days leading up to the Rangers match – he was replaced after 19 minutes of Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Hibs. “It was touch and go,” he said, with reference to his participation on Wednesday night. “My back has been playing up but if I could play then I was always going to. It is not a fixture I was ever going to miss out.”
Cosgrove is now setting his sights on Queen of the South in Sunday’s last-16 Scottish Cup tie. He will come up against Stephen Dobbie, who remains out on his own when it comes to goals in Scottish football this season – 37 in all competitions.
But Cosgrove has eclipsed even this goalscoring phenomenon in recent weeks. Who would have thought this back in the autumn, when the only boot Cosgrove appeared to be in line for was the one kicking him out of Pittodrie.