Sam Cosgrove found his scoring touch last season and showed last night he has no intention of losing it, with Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes revealing that he has had to fend-off inquiries from clubs south of the border.

Scouts may be looking closely at star defender Scott McKenna, but it will be unsurprising if an increasing number are glancing in the direction of the battling striker who has now hit 25 goals in 32 games, six of which have come in the Europa League already this season.

Cosgrove’s eye-catching hat-trick set Aberdeen on their way into the third qualifying round of the Europa League as the hosts overwhelmed Chikhura Sachkhere in a one-sided affair at Pittodrie.

“We’ve had enquiries about Sam already from other clubs,” McInnes said, “but he will be staying with us this season.

“He’s improved so much in a short period of time. I think people wrote Sam off too quickly, they should have known better.

“I do feel there’s more to come from Sam but his confidence is growing. He’s got real competition with Curtis Main, who will be an import-ant player for us this season. I think Sam sees that too. We have a couple of strong strikers and Sam has started the season well.”

Sachkhere arrived in the Granite City on Monday, keen to build on their 1-1 result from the first leg on Tbilisi last Thursday. It was a futile wish.

Now, Croatian outfit HNK Rijeka wait for a clash with the Reds and had they been on a scouting mission at Pittodrie, they would have been very impressed by the home side and the rapid-fire passing move that led to the tie’s opener, fired-in by Cosgrove in nine minutes.

It concluded an attractive manoeuvre involving four other players, with Jon Gallagher providing the final pass for his team-mate, the scorer of Aberdeen’s goal in Georgia, to find a way past the Sachkhere goalkeeper from 12 yards, albeit via a deflection off a visiting defender.

The 15,000 home fans had to wait just 11 more minutes to see the former Carlisle United striker increase the hosts’ lead, this time with the assistance of a finely-weighed volley from Lewis Ferguson, who hit Shay Logan’s lob across goal for Cosgrove to head home.

There were enough moments in the opening 45 minutes to suggest Sachkhere had little menace about them, certainly insufficient to trouble Joe Lewis in the Aberdeen goal.

His counterpart, Dino Hamzic, on the other hand, made a wonderful stop from Gallagher early in the second half as the Reds sent out a message that sitting on their lead was not on the agenda.

At the other end, Mikheili Ergemlidze’s close-range flick did not have the power to trouble Lewis.

Georgian hearts sank ever lower just before the hour as McInnes’ men secured their place in the next round, courtesy of a Greg Leigh header from another of Ferguson’s fine passes. The defender could hardly miss.

Then, in the 64th minute – just two after he had replaced Niall McGinn – a cool Scott Wright accepted Gallagher’s slide-rule forward pass and with composure, sent the ball into the far right of the goal out of the hapless Hamzic’s reach.

If there were thoughts Cosgrove had completed his night’s work, they were dispelled with 10 minutes remaining, his solo effort ending with a neat outside-of-the-foot strike to heap further misery on the Georgians.