IT was bad enough when heavy rain forced the postponement of an eagerly-awaited football match.

However, the players and managers of two of North Yorkshire's amateur sides must have thought fate was against them when the floodlights went out on the re-match.

The derby fixture between Pickering Town and Selby Town was abandoned at the first attempt because of a waterlogged pitch.

And this week's game also had to be called off - when a groundsman at Selby's Flaxley Road stadium accidentally severed an electricity cable.

The gaffe meant the power line to the ground's floodlights was cut, leaving the two teams to arrange a third meeting.

Selby manager Bob Lyon said the damaged cable would cost about £500 to repair.

"This is just the icing on the cake." he said. "We're desperate for the end of the season. There is now a big hole on the edge of the pitch. Our groundsman apparently suffered slight burns - it could have been quite dangerous."

The rematch could have an important bearing on the Northern Counties East League table, with Pickering in third place and Selby seventh.