PART TWO: Aaron O'Connor on his Luton Town satisfaction, Wembley joy with Newport County and starring back in non-league

You can read part one HERE:

O’Connor enjoyed his time at Rushden & Diamonds but his departure would come due to circumstances beyond his control.

He said: “A few months before the end of the season, we were told that the club would basically be going bust, and that we’d all be able to find new clubs.

"I had about ten teams after me, all of them Conference clubs, but as soon as I knew Luton were interested and having played against them a lot, it was where I wanted to go.

"I always did well against them and they were always top end of the table, so I knew they’d be challenging for promotion.

“I enjoyed playing in front of the big crowds too – it’s different going from playing in front of crowds as low as 4-500 to then having 11,000 there which was unbelievable at that level.

"I had a slow start there and the manager Gary Brabin wanted me playing more out wide, but I was just happy to be playing given there were lots of very good players there and good squad depth too.

"Then for some reason, with us in the play-off places, Brabin was sacked after we had a run of three defeats in five or something like that. We were still in third or fourth place and they brought in Paul Buckle who got us to the play-off final but we lost to York.

"Buckle then sat me down in the summer, told me he had five strikers and that I was fifth choice and he’d let me go if there was interest. I had no problem with that.”

Options were again plentiful for O’Connor, who was keen to remain in a side that would challenge high up the table.

But in the end, the lure of a familiar friend proved too good to turn down.

O’Connor said: “I went to a pre-season training camp in Portugal with Luton but was running on my own so it was a bit pointless.

"The day I went there, Justin Edinburgh got in touch. He was at Newport County who had only just stayed up in the Conference, but having seen what he’d done at Rushden it was a similar project in terms of building a new team and they had a bit of backing too with a local guy who had won the lottery and wanted to invest.

"Nobody knew that when they first spoke to me and I had to keep it secret. Luton were happy for me to go there as Newport weren’t seen as competitors. So I moved to Cardiff, initially stayed in a hotel for three months, and we ended up getting promoted that year and beat Luton both times we played them.

"I even scored against them in the FA Cup too and it was good to see Paul Buckle’s face. There was some satisfaction in that!”

O’Connor would help Newport earn promotion in his first season, getting plenty of goals and then coming off the bench at Wembley to score as Newport beat Wrexham 2-0 to move back to League Two.

But his first season back in League Two would be a frustrating one.

He said: “Cardiff was an amazing place to live and I’ve still got friends there. But the season after we got promoted was really hard as I had injury problems and basically missed the whole season.

"I played in the last game against Rochdale and scored, and we finished just outside the play-offs which was brilliant for a newly-promoted side. I got fit and the second year was also good although we didn’t finish as high.”

A change in ownership of the club followed, as did Edinburgh’s move to be manager of Gillingham, with O’Connor ending up at Forest Green as his next port of call.

He said: “There was a massive wage cut at Newport and it wasn’t realistic to stay, but there was no bad blood at all and we all left on a high.

"A couple of struggling League Two sides came in for me but again I felt I wanted more of a challenge higher up the table and Forest Green fitted that bill even though they were the league below.

"I knew a couple of players there from Newport and we’d car share, and I had a brilliant start, scoring lots of goals and helping them to a new record for consecutive wins.

"Then out of nowhere, the manager just stopped playing me. I'd scored three times more than anyone else but he said he wanted big lads like Jon Parkin up front and to go more direct.

"So I went out on loan to Stevenage, who were managed by Teddy Sheringham so as a Man Utd fan it was great to work with him. I ended up signing permanently but then almost immediately Teddy was sacked and although the new boss Darren Sarll, who I already knew and got on well with, offered me a new deal, by now my son, who lived in Nottingham, was getting older and I felt it was a good time to move closer to home, and that the time was also right to come out of full-time football.”

After heading back to Nottingham to consider his options, a move to Kettering Town followed and would be a huge success, as he became a prolific scorer over three seasons and helped the Poppies to promotion back to step two.

More recently, O’Connor then turned out for clubs including Basford United and Carlton, all whilst beginning a career away from football working with children who had been expelled from mainstream schools, before then setting up his own children’s care home.

He said: “On the football side, it’s just about enjoyment now. Money didn’t matter once I’d left the full-time game. It’s just about happiness, working with people I know and playing for as long as I feel I can make a difference.

"My work with children has been incredibly rewarding as I’ve always been passionate about helping those kids from different or challenging environments, and setting up the children’s home is a continuation of that.”