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Edinburgh never doubted striker

Image: Justin Edinburgh: O'Connor deserves headlines

Justin Edinburgh hailed Aaron O'Connor after he got back on the goal trail with a hat-trick in Newport's 3-1 win at Bury.

The 31-year-old striker gave the visitors a third-minute lead before being gifted a second goal just before half-time. Danny Rose pulled one back for the Shakers after 62 minutes but O'Connor struck in stoppage time as Edinburgh's men made it seven games unbeaten in League Two and climbed up to eighth place in the table. Groin problems ruled O'Connor out for almost all of last season and he had scored just four goals in 20 games this term before netting his first senior hat-trick. "Aaron will get the headlines - and he deserves it," said Edinburgh. "It's been a long road to recovery. Earlier in the season people were questioning him but I had undoubted belief in him. "It was an excellent away performance. They did everything we asked of them and I thought we were worthy of the win. "Not too long ago we threw away a 2-0 lead so it's testament to the players for seeing it out. "It's an excellent three points against a very good team. We came here with a gameplan and the players approached it really positively in a collective manner. "We had to weather the storm in the second half and put our bodies on the line but this group of players do that for one another. "The players are learning, they're getting better all the time. The improvement we've made from the day we came back in the summer to now, we're reaping the rewards." For Bury, it was a third straight defeat - and their first at home in League Two since the opening day. "Over the last 10 months we haven't put in many performances at home that have been inept but that first half was," said Shakers manager David Flitcroft. "It didn't represent me as a person or a manager. The lack of aggression to defend the edge of our box was alarming. The goals came from two big mistakes. "I can't yet put my finger on why we under-performed in the first half but we certainly did under-perform. "The second half was more like us and what we're about. We managed to energise the fans, the place was upbeat and there was a tempo. "But Newport found a way to break the game down when we were on top so fair play to them. "There was more quality on show and we carved them open, which was the gameplan beforehand, but we've got to execute what we work on Monday to Friday." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts

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