Barnsley FC v Derby County: Sam Cosgrove on number-crunching and his 'never give up' story after nearly quitting football

Goals and assists are the stock-in trade of forwards across the land, while across the game, figures - in terms of points - always come into play for managers and supporters. Especially at this time of year.

While his Barnsley team-mates spend their down-time between matches on traditional pursuits such as golf and computer games, the Reds frontman continues to crunch the numbers.

Cosgrove is doing a part-time degree in accounting finance and recently completed his first year.

The forward, who netted in last weekend’s win at Fleetwood and is hoping to retain his place today, said: “It’s always good to put your mind to something, instead of focusing on football 100 per cent all the time.

"It’s something I have always excelled in over the years. It’s definitely a useful thing to do.

"Football is all-encompassing. You work in the day and go home and find yourself thinking about football all the time.

"It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you can become overwhelmed with it. Some boys go back and play the PlayStation or take the dog out for a walk etc.

"For me, I enjoy sitting down and doing a bit of studying. It resets the mind and keeps it fresh, so that when you are in work you are 100 per cent focused on what the job is."

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East Yorkshire-born Cosgrove's first season at Oakwell has not gone swimmingly, but he is hoping that the best is yet to come.

He is also grateful for what he has got, given that he was almost lost to football before his career began - he was released by Wigan as a youngster.

The former Aberdeen and Birmingham City forward continued: "At one point I did give up football.

"When I got released from Wigan when I was 20, 21, I was actually applying for jobs and to go to university.

"I didn’t really see a future for myself in professional football.

"Loving the game, I was always going to play at some kind of level, but I thought the ship had sailed.

"Luckily, I got an opportunity at Carlisle in pre-season and did well in a couple of games and it took off from there.

"I suppose it’s a kind of a ‘never give up’ story.

"You learn more from the mistakes and bad times than the good times sometimes. I like to try and keep myself humble and those experiences definitely go a long way."