Devonshire Cougars' technical director Quilton Joell has defended his club's decision last Sunday not to play top poacher Raymond Beach.

Beach missed the FA Cup quarter-final clash against Boulevard as team officials believed the player had accumulated three yellow cards, and as such, would have to serve out an automatic one-game suspension.

However, Bermuda Football Association said later that Beach had, in fact, been eligible to play.

Joell told The Royal Gazette: “We would like some sort of clarification with regards to yesterday's (Wednesday) headline which said we were over-cautious by not playing Beach. I don't think we were over-cautious when we knew one of our players had accumulated three yellow cards.

“If we were not certain then you could say that we were over-cautious by not playing him. But from our standpoint if a player has accumulated three cards then automatically he becomes ineligible to play because the onus is on us. Basically, the BFA have placed the onus on the clubs to keep track (of suspensions) and from our records Beach was ineligible to play last Sunday.”

Joell was alluding to previous comments made by BFA general secretary David Sabir who said: “We (BFA) must then put the onus and responsibility on team managers, executives and coaches that they must be aware at all times if their players are close to receiving three cautions or have three cautions. That means they have to have better record keeping.”

According to club records, Beach picked up a first yellow card against Southampton Rangers on January 11 and another against Somerset Eagles on February 15. The player then received a third booking only two days later against North Village during a Premier Division clash, played under the lights at the Den.

But the BFA record apparently differed. According to the governing body the player was entitled to play in last Sunday's cup tie featuring Cougars and Boulevard which ended 2-2 after extra time.

Joell added: “Beach's name and Cougars have been the focal point for the past few weeks and I want to keep my players focused on the last few games. But the headline and tone of that article really threw me off and so I thought it only right for public perception to speak up on the issue. And that is basically all I have to say at this point in time.”

Cougars' bid for FA Cup glory was cut short last season when midfielder Kori Goddard turned out for the March 9 semi-final against Prospect which the Premier Division club won convincingly 5-2.

Following the match it was discovered that Goddard should have served a one-game suspension for accumulating three bookings and the BFA said they had no option but to award the victory, and a place in the final, to Prospect.

Initially, Cougars claimed not to have been properly notified by the BFA over the suspension and lodged an appeal. Following weeks of public wrangling, the matter was finally resolved by a BFA tribunal which dismissed Cougars' appeal, allowing the association's initial ruling to stand.