HUMBLE Lion defender Ajuran Brown refused to be substituted when told to do so by his coach Geoffrey Maxwell during the Red Stripe Premier League match against Harbour View at the latter’s home field, The Compound, on Sunday night.

With the scores tied at 0-0 after 20 minutes, Maxwell went to his bench and summoned Sean Coleman to replace Brown. Coleman sprang to his feet and raced towards the fourth official, Jermaine Douglas, who signalled to Brown. Brown turned a blind eye. He was having none of it, so a standoff of will and power ensued for several minutes.

Captain of Humble Lion, Wolry Wolfe, raced across the field to have dialogue with his coach, who dismissed his intervention. Maxwell too was having none of it and was not prepared to listen to any suggestions.

This is the second time this season that a Humble Lion player was behaving in such a manner. Robert Fletcher then scored against Boys’ Town moments after Maxwell wanted to replace him.

“We have never had this type of problem before. The situation is that the player was misbehaving in terms of what was been said to him and he came to the sideline and we told him we are going to substitute him, and that eventually is what took place,” Maxwell told the Observer.

“But this is not something that is the norm because normally when you take off a player, the player comes off. But these things happen in football,” he added.

When quizzed if he was surprised by the player’s action, Maxwell said: “Fifty-fifty, because he is a player that is sometimes undisciplined and sometimes does not follow instructions. We just have to deal with it from a managerial point of view.”

Despite Maxwell’s replacement of the much-travelled Brown, Humble Lion crashed 0-2 to Harbour View, courtesy of goals from Dicoy Williams and McKauley Tulloch in the 38th and 64th minutes respectively.

Williams volleyed home from a corner kick while Tulloch, the former Kingston College and St George’s College Manning Cup player, notched his first senior goal for Harbour View with a beautiful right foot shot just outside the box.

Humble Lion actually got the ball into the net in the 60th minute at a crucial juncture in the game, but it was ruled offside by referee Courtney Campbell.

“I am disappointed because quite frankly I don’t complain about officials, but I know a player can’t run from behind and score a goal and you classify it as offside,” Maxwell pointed out.

He continued: “Give credit to Harbour View. I think it was a good game. Most people might not like it but both teams were playing practically the same type of game – pass and move, and I thought we were a little bit too anxious to get the ball down the middle of the field, where normally we would go to the flanks and bring it across, so it’s a good effort but not good enough.”

Harbour View are up to second on 14 points with a game in hand to be played Wednesday against Cavalier, while Humble Lion remained on 14 points but slipped one spot to third.

Harbour View: Devon Haughton, Damarley Oliver (Dejanni Isaacs 84th), Montrose Phinn, Dicoy Williams, Kemar Lawrence, Nicholas Beckett, Keith Kelly (Kevaughn Frater 79th), Joel Senior, John-Ross Edwards, McKauley Tulloch (Donovan Edwards 83rd), Brian Brown.

Subs not used: Michaud Barrett, Brian Cunningham, Clifton Waugh, Davian Thorpe.

Booked: Beckett 59th, Lawrence 79th.

Humble Lion: Damion Crooks, Kirk Duckworth, Romaine Barnes, Ricardo Campbell, Ajuran Brown (Sean Coleman 27th), Mark Miller, Ranoldo Christian, Wolry Wolfe, Jermaine Christian, Omando McLoud (Roberto Fletcher 64th), Denzil Watson (Keneil Wolfe 57th).

Subs not used: Garth Heron, Omar Walters, Kimroy Davis, Jermaine Fletcher.

Booked: Wolry Wolfe 39th.

Referee: Courtney Campbell

Assistant Referees: Richard Washington, Oyinco McTaggart

Fourth Official: Jermaine Douglas

Match Commissary: Garfield McDonald