Sam swoops to silence grumbling Dons fans
They had been knocking on the door from the first minute.
But Aberdeen needed super Sam Cosgrove to smash through it against stubborn Hamilton Accies.
The Dons’ top scorer secured all three points for his side with his 19th goal of the season – and the 40th of his Aberdeen career – after they had been repeatedly denied by Accies keeper Luke Southwood.
It was a win that moved Aberdeen back up to third in the Premiership.
And Ash Taylor, despite enjoying a relatively untroubled afternoon at the back, was as relieved by the result as he was delighted.
“We just kept plugging away,” he said. “Niall came up with a great bit of play and Cozzy does what he does and gets on the end of it.
“When the chances are there, he comes up with the goods, just like Adam Rooney did in my first spell here.
“It was important that we got the three points – and the clean sheet was just as important – off the back of the Hibs game.
“Accies made it difficult for us at times and chucked the two big lads on at the end but as a team we dealt with it and Joe didn’t need to make a save, which was pleasing.”
There has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction among Aberdeen fans this season.
At times it has boiled over. For the most part, however, it has remained beneath the surface, breaking through only in moments when the Dons have toiled either spectacularly or unexpectedly.
There was frustration from the stands at Pittodrie in the first half against Accies.
But to all intents and purposes, Derek McInnes’ side dominated their visitors.
The only thing missing was a goal – and it wasn’t through a lack of trying.
Southwood was the main factor in Aberdeen’s failure to find the net, pulling out instinctive stops from the lively James Wilson, the alwaysaware Ryan Hedges, the jinking Niall McGinn, and the shrewd Shay Logan. It was effectively one-way traffic.
Accies only really threatened Joe Lewis’ goal once before the break, when Aaron McGowan failed to direct an in-swinging Ross Cunningham free-kick in at the far post with his head.
There was a freshness about Aberdeen, with Funso Ojo returning to his deep-lying midfield berth from a three-month injury lay-off.
McGinn and Hedges were also handed starts, with Andy Considine and Zac Vyner dropping out from last week’s defeat at Hibs.
But as much as the Dons controlled the first 45 minutes, they couldn’t find a way through Accies’ stubborn 4-1-4-1 set-up.
Hamilton boss Brian Rice would doubtless deny it, but it looked like his side had come to Pittodrie to claim a point, with the dawdling of the otherwise terrific Southwood over every dead ball apparent from the 18th minute onward.
However, it seemed a matter of time until Accies would be punished and so it proved, with Cosgrove, uncharacteristically quiet in the first half, popping up on 53 minutes to side-foot McGinn’s pinpoint cross home at the back post.
It ended up being enough to clinch the win for McInnes’ men, with Accies unable to directly threaten the Aberdeen goal in the aftermath, despite working hard.
Coupled with St Johnstone’s win at Hearts, Hamilton found themselves bottom of the league at full time.
They will need to show much more than they did at Pittodrie to escape from that position.