The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cosgrove’s goal to keep scoring in every Euro showdown
Dons hitman is looking to maintain his Red-hot record
Sam Cosgrove aims to put Chikhura Sachkhere to the sword at Pittodrie and maintain his record of scoring in every European tie so far this season.
Cosgrove netted a second-half penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg against the Georgians in Tbilisi on Thursday.
That continued his scoring streak after he had netted in both legs of the 4-2 aggregate defeat of RoPS Rovaniemi in the previous round.
Cosgrove said: “I want to score more goals next week. I want to keep up my goala-game ratio or make my ratio even better than that – that is certainly my aim.
“I said after the two games against RoPS I could have been sitting here with double that tally.
“The game in Georgia we weren’t as creative as we were in Finland and the chances were few and far between.
“It was just a case of putting the penalty away because the away goal can be vital in a tie like this.”
Cosgrove was Aberdeen’s leading scorer last season with 21 goals.
Manager Derek McInnes added former Motherwell striker Curtis Main and secured a permanent deal for James Wilson following his release from Manchester United.
Despite securing those two strikers in the summer McInnes has retained faith with Cosgrove and has started him in all three European ties. Cosgrove aims to repay that faith.
He added “Fortunately, the gaffer has started me in every game this season and I am desperate to repay the confidence he has shown in me from last season. The goals are one thing but I want to improve my performances as well.
“For example, I don’t think my performance in Finland was up to scratch. It wasn’t the sort of level I know I can get to and so I challenged myself to put in a better performance in Georgia and I thought I did that.
“When you put the work in you get the rewards and I got that goal against Chikhura.”
Aberdeen are in the midst of a defensive crisis for the return leg with centre-back Ash Taylor having sustained a hamstring injury early on in Tbilisi.
Centre-back Mikey Devlin is also out with a hamstring injury and leftback Greg Leigh has missed the European ties with an ankle injury.
Cosgrove is confident the Reds are strong enough to see off the Georgians.
He said: “I think there is a lot more to come.
“We did go out with the aim to win the game but it wasn’t a bad result. Going 1-0 down wasn’t ideal.
“I thought we were
the better side and we just had that lapse of 10 or 15 minutes where they unfortunately got their goal.
“I think for the rest of the time we controlled it and we deservedly got our goal and the draw.”
Cosgrove’s converted penalty delivered a vital away goal.
It also put the Reds in pole position to progress to the next round where they would be up against Croatian outfit Rijeka .
The Romanian referee awarded the penalty for handball by Davit Maisashvili in the 68th minute.
Cosgrove said: “I didn’t really feel the pressure of it.
“It has been a common occurrence with me taking the penalties.”