Soccer:Sheffield United goalkeeper Paddy Kenny will not discover his punishment for failing a drugs test tomorrow after the Football Association agreed to postpone his disciplinary hearing.

Kenny, who tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine after his side’s Coca-Cola Championship play-off semi-final against Preston in May, was due to learn his fate tomorrow but his agent requested more time to prepare for the case.

An FA Spokesman told Press Association Sport: “We have agreed to the delay and no new date for the hearing has been set at the moment.

“The reason the hearing has been postponed is that Paddy Kenny’s representative asked for more time to prepare for the case.”

The Blades keeper was suspended by the South Yorkshire club last month and the FA could ban him for anything between six months and two years.

It is understood that Kenny will insist the ephedrine entered his system through some cough mixture he took before the match — the stimulant is contained in some cold cures.

FA disciplinary chiefs will need convincing, however, that was the case, and that there was “no significant fault or negligence”.

Since 2007, four rugby players — two from rugby union and two from rugby league - have all been served with two-year bans after testing positive for ephedrine.

In three of those cases, the players involved knowingly took ephedrine tablets before a match.

In the fourth case the player claimed he took a tablet believing it to be the cold cure Sudafed, which does not contain ephedrine, but was still given a two-year ban.