Joel - 2 goals

By Clarence Rode
April 19 2009

The fat lady isn't singing yet, but she's in the wings warming up after a rare away win eased Hartlepool's League One relegation worries. They still need to rely on most of the teams below them failing to win twice and could probably do with another point or so themselves, but winning 3-2 at Yeovil will probabgly porove to be one of the most significant results of their centenary season.

Now they can face their final home game of the season against Leeds United in a more relaxed frame of mind before finishing the campaign away to a Bristol Rovers side with nothing but their pride to play for.
Pools deserved their win after a positive display at Huish Park, the sort of positive display that makes you wonder why they couldn't have played like this more often in a generally sorry season.
But once again, the big difference between the sides was Joel Porter. Pools' top scorer took his tally for the season to an impressive 23 with two goals at Yeovil, and the Aussie deserves huge praise and the undying thanks of Pools fans for his remarkable season.
He must have losty count of the number of players who have played alongside him in attack, and he's spent more than  half the season without the team's other main goal threat, James Brown (right). In addition, the second half of his season has been marred by a series of niggling injuries.
Don't forget that as Pools' major threat, he has also been kicked a bit by opposing defenders and even the team's biggest critic has to admit that Porter has put in a hell of a shift in 2009-10.
He may be heading back home to Oz this summer, but whatever he does for the rest of his career, he has to go down as one of Hartlepool's most successful players.
To score 23 goals in a poor season for the team, a season blighted by bad team performances and personal injuries, is little short of a miracle. It's a lot more difficult scoring regularly in a poor team than in a good one.
Joel Porter deserves the thanks of everybody connected with the club for his contribution over the years and particularly for his goals this season - without them, there's no doubt they would not only have gone down, but probably finished bottom.
What a shame the club chooses not to negotiate new contracts until the old ones expire - if they didn't follow this short-sighted policy, Porter might have agreed to stay a while longer.
Replacing him is just one of many summer problems facing whoever takes charge of Hartlepool for next season. James Brown might be coming back for the new season, but that's the one and only spot of good news on the horizon.
Despite the fact that barring late disasters they are now safe from relegation can't be allowed to hide the truth - they are probably going to stay up not because they are good enough to do so, but because there are a few teams even worse than they are.