MICKY Nelson is a big fan of Adam Boyd - and enjoyed getting one over on his former team-mate on Saturday.

The old Pools compatriots were in direct competition in London on Saturday, but there's little doubt Nelson won the duel.

Despite not training all week, Pools' skipper was outstanding at the back to stub out any Boyd threat.

And he admitted he took great satisfaction from the display, which kept Pools in third spot in League One, just three points off top spot.

"It was nice to play against Boydy - even more so when you come out of it with a result like that,'' admitted Nelson, who suffered an ankle injury in the draw with Swindon the previous week.

"It was nice to see him, it's been a while, and he's been doing well but he didn't score against us.

"We didn't have much banter during the week before the game - there was a few text messages, but that was it. I won't tell you what they said, but it's fair to say things didn't turn out how Boydy wanted to!

"You always get a bit of banter, but it's nice to see him doing well - even better we got the better of his team.''

Knowing how Boyd can hurt teams running from deep, Nelson admitted Pools' plan for dealing with the five-goal striker worked to perfection.

"I suppose when you are up against an old team-mate you try that bit more and concentrate a bit more,'' he said.

"We know his game and we know what he can do. He likes to come off you and drop deep for possession, but I can't remember one occasion where he actually did that and ran at us. When he did get the ball he couldn't turn and he had to play it backwards - you can't let him settle on the ball or he will hurt you.

"Right from the start we kept him quiet, but he has scored lots of goals like that for us by dropping deep.

"I think it was my first season here where he came back from Boston and scored ten goals in 12 games to get us in the play-offs.

"The next season he got 29 - he's a good player and he's in form now so it's pleasing to keep him quiet in that mode.''

Nelson added: "I didn't train until Friday and still didn't do much then. The gaffer took me out of training early and I did a little bit.

"I was still unsure what was going on right until the team was announced before the game. I trained yesterday but there was no reaction in the morning when I got up so at least I knew I had a chance.

"But I think that the performance was more like what we want and more like how I played last season - I don't think I've played that well in the last couple of games before this one.''