Halifax Town midfielder Michael Collins was looking forward to seeing some familar Leyton Orient faces on Saturday

The 31-year-old retired from playing in the summer after accepting a coach role with Bradford City, but signed a deal with Halifax Town in December

Michael Collins was disappointed Saturday’s National League game between Halifax Town and Leyton Orient was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

The experienced midfielder was set to come up against his old side at the Shay, but the cold and wet weather saw his hopes of an early reunion dashed.

Collins, who only signed for Halifax last month, will now have to wait a little bit longer before facing some of his former team-mates.

He said: “It is one of them unfortunate instances. We are experiencing quite bad weather at the moment and it is having a knock-on effect on quite a lot of games. Ours has bore the brunt of that, but it would have been nice to play against Orient.

“I spoke to Ada (Martin) the kitman in the week and told him I was looking forward to him and one or two others coming up. It would have been nice to see a few familiar faces, but it is one of them things.

“It will be a Tuesday night now and a long trip for the fans to make during the week, but I guess it gives both clubs more preparation for this Saturday’s game.”

Last summer Collins made the difficult decision to turn down a contract extension at Brisbane Road.

It was before Nigel Travis and Kent Teague had taken over the club from old owner Francesco Becchetti.

Collins was in dialogue with Martin Ling about staying at Orient, but couldn’t wait any longer for the takeover to happen and decided to accept a role at Bradford City coaching their under-18s.

The former Huddersfield Town midfielder called time on his playing career as a result, but in December he agreed a deal with Halifax to play alongside his coaching role at the Bantams.

With the Shaymen only part-time, Collins has relished the chance to get back into the swing of things while continuing to develop as a coach at Bradford.

He added: “I have really enjoyed being back playing and the main reason I went back into it was because I missed competing.

“When you have done it for such a long time and you have made the decision to retire, not due to your body giving in or anything like that, I just missed the competitive side of playing and competing with individuals on a one on one basis and I was still fit.

“I thought retiring would be easier than it was. When I sat down and weighted up the pros and cons, I knew it would be difficult, but at the time I was quite comfortable with it.

“But a few months down the line, I missed the feeling you get on a Saturday when you are going at it and the feeling when you come away with three points.

“I knew I was still fully able and I thought if I don’t go back now at some level I will probably regret it in my later years, so I took the call and it has been good, but challenging.

“We have had some decent results as well as testing games, but I am really enjoying being back in the mix.”

Collins will no doubt get his chance to compete against the O’s next month with the game likely to be rearranged for February 27.