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Neil Collins’s message regarding Barnsley FC striker Sam Cosgrove after his low-key start at Oakwell
But the Reds head coach remains confident that they will do a bit further down the line in the Reds’ League One season.
The target man, who joined the club from Birmingham City at the end of the summer window on an initial two-year deal with the option of a further year, is still awaiting his first goal for Barnsley, with his match minutes having been managed thus far by Collins.
The Scot has been mindful of not overloading the East Yorkshireman, who has been playing ‘catch-up’ on the fitness front after a disrupted pre-season in the Midlands.
Cosgrove has made just one start at league level – in the victory at Northampton Town on September 23 – with his five other league appearances all coming from the bench.
Collins is confident that patience will be a virtue with the big forward and is not worried in the slightest by his low-key opening to his Oakwell career.
He said: “With someone like Sam, we all want him to come in and just be ‘all-singing and all-dancing’ and flying. But he has not had the pre-season that some of the other players have had.
“He’s settling into a new environment and we’ve also got competition.
“He’s shown in some of the games that he’s got a lot to offer. But equally, he’ll admit that we need to get him fitter and with more game time.
“We’ll work on doing that so that as we head (more) into the season, he becomes a really important player for us.”
Barnsley return to action in seven days time when they make the trip to Leyton Orient.
The South Yorkshire outfit are chasing a sixth successive away league victory.
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