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SAM COSGROVE
Full Name: Sam Benjamin Cosgrove
Born: 02 December 1996
Came from: Birmingham City Went to: Birmingham City
First game: 03 September 2022 Last game: 25 April 2023
Appearances: 40 (18/22) Goals: 12
Cosgrove became Steven Schumacher's seventh capture of the 2022 summer transfer window when he signed a loan deal from Birmingham City on the window's deadline day.
Born in Beverley in East Yorkshire, Cosgrove began his footballing journey as a schoolboy with Everton, where he was under the watchful eye of Neil Dewsnip, Argyle's future Director of Football. He was released at the age of 16 but then signed apprenticeship forms with Wigan Athletic in 2013, whilst also studying for his A-levels, which included marine biology - perhaps a fitting qualification for his future time in Britain's Ocean City.
Having scored 44 goals in 40 matches over two years with Wigan's under-18 side, whilst also spending time on loan at Barrow, Chorley, Nantwich Town and North Ferriby United, he earned his first professional contract in June 2016.
After a pre-season trial, Cosgrove then signed for Carlisle United in August 2017, and six months later joined Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, where he made an immediate impact when he was shown a red card eight minutes after coming on as a 76th minute substitute against Celtic.
After his over-enthusiastic start, Cosgrove's time at Pittodrie was a great success. In his first full season he scored 21 times, including 17 in the Scottish Premier League, which was the second highest total in the SPL that season. The following year he scored a total of 23 goals, six of them in six matches in the Europa League, including a European hat-trick. Overall, he notched up 47 goals in 103 appearances in his three years with the Dons.
Cosgrove's form in Scotland led to a move to Birmingham City in January 2021, for whom he made 12 Championship appearances in the remainder of that season, mostly from the bench. Two half-season loans followed in 2021-22, first with Shrewsbury Town and then AFC Wimbledon, giving him a season of League One experience.
Following three further substitute appearances for his parent club at the start of the 2022-23 season, the 25-year-old, six-foot-five centre-forward hoped to rekindle his north-of-the-border scoring form by becoming the Pilgrims' fifth full-season loanee for the 2022-23 campaign.
And what a start! Just two days after putting pen to paper, Cosgrove made his Argyle debut as a 75th minute substitute against Derby County at Pride Park and then scored twice for a memorable 2-3 victory.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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