Big Gun Aaron Is Laying Down The Law For Poppies

WHEN Aaron O’Connor fired the ball into the Wembley net to guarantee Newport County’s Conference promotion in 2013, it also returned the striker to the Football League after 11 years of trying to get back there.

- Matt Badcock

He came close with Rushden & Diamonds and Luton Town. But it was the Welsh club, by his own admission he hesitated to join, where he finally achieved it thanks to a 2-0 win over rivals Wrexham.

Performances for Ilkeston Town, where he broke into the first team when former Bolton striker John McGinlay was manager, had landed him a move to Scunthorpe United back in 2002.

It didn’t work out and he returned to the Robins before deciding he had to get serious if he was going to have a long career as a professional football.

“I didn’t have a problem going back to part-time football because I enjoyed playing with my friends again,” he says.

“I went back to Ilkeston for a bit, but it got to the point where I was like, ‘If I’m going to take this seriously, I need to go and do my own thing’. So I made the decision to go and I signed for Gresley Rovers where I didn’t know anyone.

“I wanted to get my head down and have a go at it. I had people telling me that if I did that then I would have a chance in football, which is what I always wanted.

“I didn’t know anyone, I went to see the manager Gary Norton, and I liked what he had to say. I’d been playing out wide at Ilkeston, but I felt I needed to play for a manager who would play me up front and I could score goals. Gary said, ‘If you come to me and you’re fit, that’s where you’ll play’.

Pain barrier

“I got my head down, concentrated and wasn’t bothered about messing around or whatever. I could just concentrate on football and scoring goals.