Aaron O'Connor

Aaron Derek O'Connor (born 9 August 1983) is an English footballer who currently plays for Southern League Premier Division Central side Tamworth, where he plays as a forward.jfj

Aaron O'Connor

O'Connor in October 2020
Personal information
Full name	Aaron Derek O'Connor[1]
Date of birth	9 August 1983
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Tamworth
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2002	Ilkeston Town
2002–2003	Scunthorpe United	3	(0)
2003	Nuneaton Borough
2003–2004	Ilkeston Town
2004–2007	Gresley Rovers	99	(73)
2007–2008	Grays Athletic	63	(8)
2008–2009	Mansfield Town	39	(8)
2009–2011	Rushden & Diamonds	75	(24)
2011–2012	Luton Town	34	(5)
2012–2015	Newport County	82	(29)
2015–2016	Forest Green Rovers	20	(9)
2016	→ Stevenage (loan)	3	(0)
2016	Stevenage	10	(1)
2016–2020	Kettering Town	116	(59)
2020–	Tamworth	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:00 11 November 2020 (UTC) (Also works for a school)

Playing career

Scunthorpe United

Born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, O'Connor started his career at Ilkeston Town before moving to Third Division side Scunthorpe United on 12 December 2002. However, O'Connor featured in just three games as a substitute. Manager Brian Laws released the 19-year-old in February 2003, claiming he did not have the right attitude for the professional club.[2]

Nuneaton Borough and Ilkeston Town

O'Connor had a brief spell at Nuneaton Borough at the start of the 2003–04 season, before moving back to Ilkeston Town.

Gresley Rovers

He then moved onto Gresley Rovers in July 2004.[3] He spent two and a half seasons at Gresley, winning the Player's Player of The Year, Manager's Player of The Year and Supporter's Player of The Year awards in both seasons. O'Connor had a very impressive record of scoring 80 goals in 127 appearances for the club in all competitions.[4] He had a two-week trial with Rushden & Diamonds in June 2006.[5]

Grays Athletic

Grays Athletic announced the signing of O'Connor on 5 January 2007,[6] and he made his debut the following day against Southport in the Conference National. Despite being offered a new contract for the 2008–09 season, he did not sign and subsequently was released.[7]

Mansfield Town

He was signed by Mansfield Town on 8 August 2008,[8] where he made 39 appearances in the Conference Premier, scoring eight goals. He was released at the end of the 2008–09 season.[9]

Rushden & Diamonds

On 17 June 2009, O'Connor signed for Rushden & Diamonds on a one-year contract.[10] He signed a one-year contract extension in May 2010.[11] Over the course of two seasons, in which he was appointed Rushden's club captain, O'Connor scored 27 goals in 78 games.

Luton Town

O'Connor playing for Luton Town in 2011

O'Connor left Rushden & Diamonds and joined Luton Town on a free transfer on 6 June 2011.[12]

Newport County

In July 2012, O'Connor was reunited with former Rushden & Diamonds manager Justin Edinburgh when he signed for Newport County.[13] In August 2012 O'Connor was selected as Conference Player of the Month after Newport County won all five of their opening matches of the 2012–13 season with O'Connor scoring six goals.[14] He was part of the Newport team that finished third in the league, reaching the Conference Premier play-offs. Newport won the 2013 Conference Premier play-off Final versus Wrexham at Wembley Stadium 2–0 to return to the Football League after a 25-year absence with promotion to League Two. O'Connor scored the second goal.[15] He was released by Newport in May 2015 at the end of his contract.[16]

Forest Green Rovers

On 12 June 2015, he joined National League club Forest Green Rovers on a one-year deal.[17] He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 2015-16 season in a 1–0 away win against Altrincham.[18] His first goal followed in his second appearance, as his first half strike against Welling United at The New Lawn proved to be enough to secure a 1–0 victory.[19]

Stevenage

He joined League Two side Stevenage on a one-month loan on 15 January 2016.[20] He made his Stevenage debut the following day on 16 January 2016, playing 81 minutes in a 3–2 away loss against Plymouth Argyle.[21] On 1 February 2016, he secured a permanent move to Stevenage after he had his contract cancelled by Forest Green by mutual consent.[22] He was released by Stevenage in May 2016.[23]

Kettering Town

O'Connor joined Kettering Town on 3 September 2016,[24] and was voted the Fans' and Overall Player of the Year for the season 2017–18.[25]

Tamworth

It was confirmed on 15 July 2020, that Aaron had signed for Southern League Premier Division Central side Tamworth.[26] O'Connor made his debut for Tamworth on 29 September 2020 in a 2–1 home victory over Barwell, coming on as a 78th minute substitute for Gerry McDonagh.[27]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 11 November 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Ilkeston Town	2001–02	Southern Football League Premier Division	—		—		—		—		—
	2002–03		—		—		—		—		—
Scunthorpe United	2002–03[28]	Third Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Nuneaton Borough	2003–04	Southern Football League Premier Division	—		—		—		—		—
Ilkeston Town		Southern Football League Western Division	—		—		—		—		—
Gresley Rovers	2004–05	Northern Premier League Division One	—		—		—		—		—
	2005–06		—		—		—		—		—
	2006–07		—		—		—		—		—
Grays Athletic	2006–07	Football Conference	15	4	0	0	—		0	0	15	4
	2007–08		46	4	0	0	—		0	0	46	4
	Grays Athletic		61	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	61	8
Mansfield Town	2008–09	Conference National	29	8	0	0	—		0	0	29	8
Rushden & Diamonds	2009–10		38	10	0	0	—		0	0	38	10
	2010–11		36	14	0	0	—		0	0	36	14
	Rushden & Diamonds		74	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	74	28
Luton Town	2011–12	Conference National	34	5	0	0	—		0	0	34	5
Newport County	2012–13		39	18	0	0	—		0	0	39	18
	2013–14	League Two	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
	2014–15		39	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	39	10
	Newport County		82	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	82	29
Forest Green Rovers	2015–16	Conference National	20	9	0	0	—		0	0	20	9
Stevenage (loan)	2015–16	League Two	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Stevenage			10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
Kettering Town	2016–17[29]	Southern League Premier Division	31	15	3	0	—		0	0	34	15
	2017–18[29]		41	32	4	3	—		0	0	45	35
	2018–19[29]	Southern League Premier Division Central	27	10	1	0	—		0	0	28	10
	2019–20	National League North	17	2	0	0	—		0	0	17	2
	Kettering Town		116	59	8	3	0	0	0	0	124	62
Tamworth	2020–21	Southern League Premier Division Central	4	0	2	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	6	0
Career total			436	149	8	3	0	0	1	0	447	150

1. One appearance in FA Trophy

Honours

Club

Kettering Town

• Northamptonshire Cup: 2017–18;[30]
• Northamptonshire Senior Cup: 2017–18[31]
• Southern League Premier Division Central: 2018–19

References

1. "The Football League Retained List". The Football League. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
2. "Laws advice for O'Connor". BBC Sport. 11 February 2003. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
3. "Rovers get their man". Non-League Daily. 15 July 2004. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
4. "Player Database - Aaron O'Connor". Gresley Rovers. 1 January 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
5. "Hart will look at Gresley striker". BBC Sport. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
6. "Grays complete deal for O'Connor". BBC Sport. 5 January 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2007.
7. "Player News". Grays Athletic F.C. 3 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009.
8. "Stags boosted by late signings". Mansfield Town F.C. 8 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008.
9. John Lomas (11 May 2009). "Trio signed, but other Stags free to go". Mansfield Chad. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
10. "Diamonds tie up O'Connor signing". BBC Sport. 17 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
11. "Aaron O'Connor agrees deal at Rushden & Diamonds". BBC Sport. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
12. "Luton Town swoop for striker Aaron O'Connor". BBC Sport. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
13. O'Connor joins Newport
14. Conference Player of the Month
15. Hughes, Dewi (5 May 2013). "Wrexham 0–2 Newport". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
16. Newport players released
17. "Forest Green sign former Newport County striker". BBC Sport. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
18. "Altrincham 0-1 Forest Green". BBC Sport. 8 August 2015.
19. "Forest Green 1-0 Welling United". BBC Sport. 11 August 2015.
20. "Aaron O'Connor: Forest Green Rovers striker joins Stevenage". BBC Sport. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
21. "Plymouth Argyle 3-2 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 16 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
22. "Stevenage bring in Aaron O'Connor, Pat Hoban and Ryan Hedges". BBC Sport. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
23. O'Connor released by Stevenage
24. Kettering Town F.C. Player Profile
25. Kettering Town F.C. 2017-18 Presentation - Winners
26. "Experienced Striker Signs On". TheLambs.co.uk. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
27. "Tamworth 2-1 Barwell". TheLambs.co.uk. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
28. "Games played by Aaron O'Connor in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
29. "Player profiles: Aaron O'Connor". Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
30. "Match report – Northampton Town". Kettering Town F.C. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
31. "Match report – Brackley Town". Kettering Town F.C. Retrieved 11 May 2018.

External links

• Aaron O'Connor at Soccerbase
• Aaron O'Connor at Soccerbase
• Aaron O'Connor at Soccerway