JOEL Porter this week said his training ground farewells to his Hartlepool United team-mates.

But defender Micky Nelson hopes the Aussie will be around for one more fixture this summer, before he heads back home down under and a deal with Gold Coast United.

Nelson and Porter have been team-mates at Victoria Park since 2004, involved in ups and downs galore season after season.

“He came to the club a few months into my first season here, he arrived at the same time as Dimi (Konstantopoulos) and has become a good friend off the pitch,’’ reflected Nelson.

“He’s going as far away as he could from here, but we will stay in touch. He’s coming to my wedding in the summer and that could be a chance for us to say goodbye as a group of players.

“A few of the lads have been saying that when Joel gets a manager’s job over there in a few years, the younger lads here are going to see out the end of their careers over in Australia!’’ Porter has been coaching Pools’ under-14 side while working towards his coaching badges and hopes to move into that side of the game when his career is over.

He returns home with accolades and plaudits aplenty, winning two player of the year awards – voted by the fans and fellow players.

“It’s a shame there’s no proper awards night for him to get the awards in front of an audience like we normally do,’’ admitted Nelson.

“For him to have the season he has in a team which has, to be fair, struggled this season at times, it would have been nice for the fans to really show their appreciation close up. He deserves it.

“We will miss him next season, you can’t fail to miss someone who scores that many goals. If you are Leicester who have gone up as champions, you would miss a 24-goal a season striker.

“So for us, when things haven’t gone so well, to get that many goals says everything about him.’’