Devarr Boyles, the North Village coach, has responded to the controversy that marred his team’s come from behind 2-1 home victory over Boulevard Blazers in their Premier Division opener at Bernard Park on Sunday.

The home side won a throw-in deep inside Boulevard’s half, which referee Anthony Francis allowed to be taken despite Kamali Davis writhing in pain on the ground and in need of medical treatment.

Pierre Smith, the Village forward, scored from the ensuing set-piece to prompt a lengthy delay as Boulevard’s players argued in vain with the match officials while Davis received treatment and was subsequently replaced before the game resumed.

After the match Shane Powell, the Boulevard president, accused Village and the referee of being “unfair”.

However, Boyles has distanced his team from the controversy, declaring: “That has nothing to do with North Village, it has to do with the referee’s interpretation of the rule”.

The Village coach added: “They had two issues from my understanding. First issue is they felt the referee should have stopped the play, and maybe he could have, but the referee has to speak to that and again the interpretation of the law.

“The second thing is that they were assuming that their player was the one who kept [Smith] onside, which he wasn’t. There was someone else in the box that kept him onside and the linesman [Lionel Cann] explained that to the players a few times that there were two people that kept them onside.

“In this case what was interesting was their coaches were telling the player who was down for awhile to roll off to avoid keeping us onside so somebody should be indicating to the linesman or fourth official about those sort of things.

“Their players were angry at their coach for not subbing so maybe the referee could have done something and the coach definitely had a few opportunities to do something different.

“I just think he was cramping up and the coach probably should have made a different decision and the Boulevard players were calling for that.”

Powell said: “I just think it was unfair of Village and the referee to see the man down and let play go on.

“I think it was a bad call and the major turning point in the match.

“My players played with a lot of heart and intensity and controlled the tempo up until that point.”