REFEREE Mark Halsey’s return to the Football League after cancer was delayed last night as Accrington Stanley suffered another postponement at the Crown Ground.

Premier League official Halsey had been due to take charge of the League Two clash with Barnet last night, which would have been his first game in the top four divisions since recovering from throat cancer.

But the referee was forced to call the match off an hour before kick-off as a downpour left huge pools of standing water on the pitch.

“I’m very disappointed, I was really looking forward to it,” said Halsey.

“At 5pm it was fine but at 6pm we had a downpour, and we went out there with the managers to look at it.

“We all wanted to play but it was the right decision to call it off.”