STRIKER Aaron O’Connor says he wants to be the hero as he aims to fire Newport County AFC into the League Two play-offs.

The pressure on County’s top scorer will only increase with the news that fellow front man Chris Zebroski has been jailed for four years and four months.

Zebroski admitted four charges of robbery, attempted robbery and assault relating to two incidents at Swindon Crown Court yesterday and will not play for the club again.

Losing Zebroski, who scored seven goals this season and came off the bench in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Southend United, is the last thing the Exiles wanted as they face three games that will decide their fate this season.

Tomorrow’s visit of Dagenham & Redbridge is followed by a trip to York City and a final day home clash with Oxford United.

But O’Connor is confident that they can win all three and insists he’s the man to score the goals that will put County back in with a chance of a top-seven finish.

“When we had six games to go we targeted nine points so that hasn’t changed really,” said O’Connor.

“With three games to go we need to go out and win every game and it’s more about results than performance now.

“We know that if we play as well as we can we’re more than capable of getting maximum points from all three games.

“The league table doesn’t lie – we’re ahead of them after 43 games for a reason – and I’m more than confident that we can beat all three teams.”

O’Connor admits that he should have scored when he headed against the post at Southend on Tuesday and that the miss will spur him on today.

“I always accept that pressure; I think it make me play better most of the time,” said the 31-year-old, who has 11 goals this season.

“I like being the hero. I like being the one who scores the goal and wins the game.”

That didn’t happen at Roots Hall, however.

“I watched the ball in the air for so long I thought I was in the middle of the goal and I just had to head it in to score,” he explained.

“I didn’t realise I was so close to the post. It was a really bad miss and even more reason for me to score today.

“An early goal would settle everyone down,” he added. We’ve been through the stats and when we’ve scored the first goal we’ve won something like 16 games this season and only lost one.

“And when we’ve conceded the first goal we’ve lost 13 so it tells its own story.

“We need to get the first goal and it would be good to get an early goal but we might have to wait until the last minute.”