GEORGE Blackwood has had his Oldham Athletic contract terminated by mutual consent.

The Australian striker was signed by Harry Kewell last September from A-League side Adelaide United.

But the 24-year-old suffered an injury plagued year and made only 15 appearances, coming off the bench in the last of them and scoring in a 3-0 win at Harrogate Town.

Blackwood originally penned a two-year deal, but both the player and club have come to an agreement, with the former Sydney FC forward expected to return to Australia.

And while there is regret that the move came to a premature end, Blackwood has thanked Latics for helping him to fulfil a lifelong dream to play in the English Football League.

On his Instagram account, Blackwood wrote: "Gutted things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to here at Oldham but it’s time to move on.

"The last 10 months have been crazy and they’ve kicked the s*** out of me a bit but there were some great times.

"Being able to play football in the UK has been a dream my whole life and I’ve learnt so much.

"Meeting some really cool people from teammates to club staff as well as having Harry Kewell as a coach, an Aussie I looked up to growing up.

"So thank you to everyone that supported me here at Oldham and good luck to the club in the future.

"Now time to roll on."

Blackwood made his Latics debut as a half-time substitute at home to Crawley on September 26, and went on to start the next league game, in a 3-3 draw at Colchester.

He scored his first goal in a 2-1 win over eventual League Two champions in early November. But after a 4-3 win at Barrow later that month he was sidelined until February with a fractured back.

Blackwood then spent a further two months on the sidelines before making his second comeback in mid-April, but he missed the end of the season because of a further injury setback.