Elance cancelation request from freelancer

Hi warriors,

I need some help.

I posted a job on elance and am in the following situation:

-Before awarding the job to the writer, I noticed him that he was the appropriate person for it to get a confirmation from him.
-The deadline he set up was 1 week and after 4 days he hadn't sent any part of the work but told me he'd do so the next day and didn't
-Today, the day of the deadline, I asked him for the work
-He sent me a cancellation request
-I explained I couldn't afford to accept it since I'd have to post the job again, wait various days to get requests, go through them and wait for the new deadline
-Told him I wanted to work things out
-Offered more time
-He didn't accept

This guy really screwed up my project. If I accept the cancellation, elance will think I have no problem with it, right? And I won't be able to rate him? To do so, should I dispute?

I know it is a business he has on elance and giving him a negative rating will affect him but I just can't give him a positive one. He should have noticed me before that he wouldn't be able to do the job. I was polite, patient, even provided resources to help him do the job and open to questions or to provide any help he may need.