Smart Osadolor hopes goals equal glory for Elgin City this season as their revamped strike force hit the front in a 9-1 friendly win over Lossiemouth.
January signing Osadolor got five of Elgin’s nine goals at Borough Briggs, in their first pre-season friendly, with Kane Hester and new signing Josh Peters also on the scoresheet.
Manager Gavin Price has added young forward Joel Macbeath after his departure from Ross County too, in order to fill the gaps left by Shane Sutherland and Rabin Omar. Both have left for full-time moves in the Championship, with Sutherland rejoining Caley Thistle and Omar signing on at Morton.
Osadolor has adapted his own mindset as well, to become more of a goal-driven striker and help Elgin achieve their own targets.
He said: “I said to my friends and my room-mate that I would take nothing less than two goals from this game, to set myself high targets. Previously when I gone to a new team, I think I’ve been quite content to be the provider and not focusing on getting goals, as long as the team wins.
“Going into this season and seeing what Shane was able to do, I said to myself ‘you’re not going in to replace him, you’re going in to help the team. The best way you can help the team is by scoring as many goals as you can.
“On any given day, it could be a case of me not doing it, or Josh or Kane not doing it, then we’ve got Joel who can come in. The more goals in the team the better. As long as the team is winning, that’s all that matters.”
Own goals from Scott Gordon and Ross Archibald rounded out Elgin’s day, while Hester also had an early penalty saved by Stewart Black after Aiden Sopel was fouled. Liam Archibald got the only goal for the visitors in the first half.
Osadolor took over spot-kick duties after Hester’s miss, finding the net from 12 yards on two occasions – once either side of half-time – as part of his five-goal haul.
He was replaced in the second half by his former Queen’s Park team-mate Peters, who featured as a triallist before penning a deal for the 2020-21 season with Elgin. Peters started off in the Highland League with Strathspey Thistle before joining Hibernian, while he has also had spells at Livingston, Forfar Athletic and Stirling Albion.
Osadolor added: “He’s a good player and works really hard for the team. Healthy competition is always good and you should never shy away from that.”