Aaron O’Connor was drafted in on an initial one-month loan deal in January 2016, with boss Teddy Sheringham in real need of strengthening his squad. With Boro’ struggling in League Two, a long injury list and the departure of six previous loanees in one go had left the club working overtime to bolster the squad with experience and ability.
O’Connor’s arrival certainly provided Sheringham with those two qualities, having bagged his fair share of goals at both Conference and Football League level over the course of his career. The switch to Boro’ marked a League return for the striker, however, having left Newport County in the summer of 2015 to join Forest Green Rovers in the Conference.
n bringing O’Connor to Stevenage, Sheringham was seen to be addressing the club’s problem with finding the back of the net. The hope was that O’Connor’s experience and clinical finishing skills would strengthen Boro’s prospects; not least when on top in a game. It had been something the side had almost routinely failed to do in 2015-6.
On transfer deadline day 2016 (1 February), O’Connor’s stay at Boro’ became a permanent one. It wasn’t a long one, however. Having been in and out of the Boro’ team towards the end of the 2015-6 season, the striker was surplus to requirements at the end of the campaign. And so the forward left the club, going on to join Kettering Town.
Aaron O’Connor: Before’ Boro
Rushden and Diamonds was the first club at which O’Connor showed his goalscoring abilities over a two-year period at Nene Park. Mind you, he also found the net regularly during a three-year stay at Newport County too. And though not as abundant, there were also goals at Luton, Mansfield, Grays and, more recently, Forest Green too.