Aberdeen 1-0 Hamilton: Sam Cosgrove makes it 19 goals in 24 games

Sam Cosgrove opens the scoring for Aberdeen against Hamilton. Picture: Ross MacDonald / SNS

The striker’s 19th goal in 24 games this season proved enough for a routine victory on an afternoon when Derek McInnes’ side didn’t have to rise above the mundane to collect all three points.

Even if the decisive moment in 53 minutes was one of the least spectacular strikes of the 40 the £25,000 signing from Carlisle United has scored over the past 15 months it was still invaluable and at least McGinn, inset, could claim an assist on his big day.

The former Celtic winger aimed a diagonal cross from deep towards the back post where Scott McMann and Mickel Miller seemed mesmerised by the flight of the ball as it was allowed to reach Cosgrove, who volleyed in from close range.

Of course, McGinn, inset, got used to just such situations when providing that sort of service for Adam Rooney earlier in his Dons career, and as far as his manager is concerned Cosgrove is just as valuable to the current team in matches with such fine margins.

“We had a lot of games where it was 1-0 and Rooney scored it,” said McInnes. “Sam has became a bit of that for us as well. He’s became the guy when even when we’re not at our best, he scores goals. These types of players are invaluable.”  Of course the problem is that bigger clubs with deeper pockets will feel exactly the same with the transfer window about to reopen and interest from English Championship sides Stoke City and Middlesbrough already flagged up.

McInnes is nothing if not a realist and added: “I’m hoping we don’t lose him. I don’t think it would be in our best interests to lose our best goalscorer but I’m not naïve enough to think teams aren’t looking at him. Sam will move on at some point but midway through the season wouldn’t be of any benefit to us.”

Except financially of course, at a club where the £125,000 paid to Scunthorpe United for Funso Ojo was all they were able to spend on transfer fees in the summer, although the midfielder showed that he too could turn out to be a bargain in a cameo appearance.

Ojo started his first game since being injured in September and was given a 45-minute run out where he exerted control to such an extent that Hamilton Accies rarely made it out of their own half.

A series of blocks from hard-working defenders and a number of crucial saves from young goalkeeper Luke Southwood kept the scoreline level until that lapse of concentration after the break which proved so costly.

Aberdeen lost most of their fluency after Jon Gallagher replaced Ojo at the interval as they barely posed a threat, something that could be said of the visitors for the entire 90 minutes as Joe Lewis didn’t have a serious save to make all day.

Aaron McGowan’s miscued header from Ross Cunningham’s free-kick in the first half that flew well wide of the target was as close as they came to scoring as the home side moved back into third place, at least until Motherwell’s game with Rangers this afternoon.

By contrast, Hamilton Accies sunk to the foot of the table, which is hardly surprising after a run of 11 games without a win, although they’re only below Hearts on goal difference ahead of the teams meeting at the Fountain of Youth Stadium on Saturday.

What Brian Rice would do for a Cosgrove in his team, but the Hamilton manager admits: “We know our boundaries and who we can go and recruit. I can’t go and get a Cosgrove or a Lyndon Dykes.

“We need hard work. The boys give everything. Aberdeen are supposedly the third best team in Scotland but we’re still trying to get forward in stoppage time. The belief is there but the quality maybe isn’t.”

Unfortunately there’s no maybe about it, but there is real promise at the back where 20-year-old Sam Stubbs impressed, but not as much as 17-year-old fellow central defender Jamie Hamilton who showed skill and maturity throughout which should be some consolation to the 57 Accies fans who made the fruitless journey north.