Sam Cosgrove intends on hunting down the Premiership’s golden boot to cap off his breakthrough season at Aberdeen.
The Dons striker is now up to 13 league goals – two behind Alfredo Morelos – and has no plans to slow down his hot streak, which has seen him net 12 in his last 12 games.
A brace on Wednesday night against Rangers, including one from the penalty spot, which has him five clear of the nearest Dons scorer in Greg Stewart, whose eight league goals this season all came in Kilmarnock colours.
Cosgrove said: “I just want to score as many goals as I can. 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 points for my team as I can.
“I wouldn’t say I expected a turnaround. 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 against Rangers, those type of goals didn’t fall for me at the start of the season.
“The support has never been in question. The fans turn up in there numbers home and away. The atmosphere was fantastic tonight and it’s almost that 12th man at times. It does spur us on.”
Cosgrove has supplanted Gary Mackay-Steven as the team’s default penalty-taker, an indication of his resurgent confidence at the top end of the pitch.
He added: “There are certain pressures in football but most players thrive under the pressure, especially the boys in our team. I think there were a number of boys who could have took that penalty. But I’m feeling confident at the moment and wanted to see the ball hit the net.
“It was touch and go (whether he would play). 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.”
Defeat in midweek drops Aberdeen five points behind Rangers and was their first loss against Steven Gerrard’s side this season. However, Cosgrove reckons the league’s summit is not out of their reach yet.
He said: “We have stressed up to now that it isn’t a title race yet and it still isn’t. There is still a lot of football to be played and a lot of points to be won and lost. We can still get up there.”