WHEN Bermuda's national football team set off on Monday for St. Vincent to compete in the delayed Digicel Cup, new head coach Kyle Lightbourne will hopefully have all of his players fit.

Lightbourne, who took over as head coach from Kenny Thompson in September, will be going into his first tournament praying that his players did not get injured in the upcoming action in Sunday's Friendship Trophy matches.

And since he is only allowed to take a small squad of 18 players, as opposed to the usual 23, the coach is very aware of how injuries could take their toll.

"It is difficult," he said of having only a small squad. "I am very worried about injuries. I have to keep my fingers crossed."

Asked if he would have preferred that local matches not be played this weekend to allow the national squad players to rest up ahead of the tournament, Lightbourne said that would haven been great ? but not practical for the local football programme. "I did speak about it with the (BFA) committee and the president," he said. However he noted that to postpone this weekend's Friendship matches would cause problems. "Some teams didn't play last weekend (during the FA Cup) and some teams won't play next weekend. It is quite difficult," he said.

Lightbourne should have Reading and former Manchester City striker Shaun Goater back in the team to lead the attack along with John Barry Nusum from the Major Indoor League team Philadelphia KiXX as well as Damon Ming from the UK Conference side Barnet for the three Group E matches against St. Vincent, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

St. Vincent should prove to be Bermuda's toughest match in the opening round. St. Vincent will be playing at home and have had some decent results lately. While Bermuda have been idle since going out in the 2006 World Cup qualifying round against El Salvador in the summer, St. Vincent have had a number of international matches in just the last five weeks ? the last one being on Wednesday night against Trinidad and Tobago which saw St. Vincent narrowly lose 2-1 in the World Cup qualifying campaign which ended their 2006 hopes.

On October 6th they got hammered by CONCACAF powerhouse Mexico 7-0 although they came back and only lost 1-0 to Mexico on October 10th playing at home. A few days later St. Vincent beat St. Kitts 3-0.

On November 13th, St. Vincent had an easy friendly 6-2 victory over Grenada.

On Wednesday night in Trinidad, St. Vincent looked to be heading for a victory ? at the worst an excellent 1-1 draw. But that was until Trinidad's Angus Eve scored a 90th-minute match-winner to send his side into the final CONCACAF World Cup qualifying round.

Hector Sam also scored at the Hasely Cawford Stadium for the hosts, who trailed for most of the second half after substitute Renson Haynes put St. Vincent in the lead in the 49th minute.

The win put Trinidad in the next round of qualifying by virtue of their second-place finish in Group C behind Mexico. Three of the six teams in the final group will qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, while the fourth-place team will face an Asian team in a playoff for another berth.

Trinidad looked disjointed and unsettled against the fast-paced St. Vincent team, but the match changed when Sam sent a powerful left-footed shot past St. Vincent goalkeeper Melvin Andrews to get the equaliser in the 84th minute.

The hosts got their winning goal after substitute Scott Sealey was pulled down from behind by St. Vincent defender Wesley Charles, who was red-carded. Charles could now be out of the match against Bermuda.

Lightbourne said he was very wary of St. Vincent. He said yesterday: "I had someone watching St. Vincent's game against Trinidad and the report I got was that they like to press the ball high up the pitch and play a very attacking game."

While it has been understood for quite some time that Bermuda would be playing St. Vincent first in the tournament on Wednesday, Lightbourne said that he was not too sure about that. "I have been getting a mix of information. I understand that we will be playing St. Vincent in the second game and the Cayman Islands in the first game but I am not too sure right now."

Asked if he would prefer to play St. Vincent first, Lightbourne said: "Well on one hand it would be good because they would not be able to watch how we play if we played them second ? they wouldn't get a chance to look at us."

While it has been the norm for Bermuda to be out of the international game for long periods of time and then suddenly enter a competition and, not surprisingly, fail to make the grade, Lightbourne is hoping that trend will change with him being in charge now.

"The players have to really look forward to something ? that is something I can definitely understand," said Lightbourne who played as a striker in England for 11 years with nine clubs ? Premier side Coventry, Scarborough, Walsall, Fulham, Swindon, Hull, Cardiff, Stoke and Macclesfield.

"I want to see the national team playing regularly. I am in the process of trying to get other teams into Bermuda for some matches ? hopefully during the early part of next year. The players really need something to look forward to."

When Lightbourne first took over as head coach of Bermuda in September, he had a hard time getting players out to training. In early October during the first practise session after Lightbourne had initially named 37 players to the squad, he was shocked to see only five turn out. At the time he angrily said: "I am not going to stand for this...it is just not good enough."

Asked this week if training has been better attended lately, Lightbourne said: "Yes it has improved. I am seeing more players coming out."

He added: "It is not my intention to be training all of the time. Obviously (at the start) I had not seen a number of players in person so I wanted that time with them. Now my plan is to call a squad for training 10 days before a match as long as we are in the football season."

The 35-year-old coach who has a UEFA coaching licence, said he wanted a squad which varied between young players and veterans as well as those that play overseas.

Of John Barry Nusum, he said: "John Barry has been confirmed for the team. I have talked to him and he has been playing (indoor football) and will not have any problems at all adapting back to the outdoor game."

In Bermuda's Group E St. Vincent is ranked 146 in the world and seventh in the Caribbean region. Bermuda is ranked 159 and 13th in the Caribbean while the Cayman Islands are ranked 183 in the world and 17th in the region while the British Virgin Islands are ranked 175 and 24th in the region.

Trinidad, currently ranked 64 in the world, are the favourites to win Group D in the Digicel Cup. Other Group D sides are Suriname, Puerto Rico and Grenada. The winners of Group D will play the runners-up from Group E in the second round while the Group D runners-up will meet the winners of Group E.

The competition consists of 24 teams placed into six groups of four with the two top teams from each group advancing to the Caribbean Football Union second-round qualifiers, composed of six home-and-away series matches. The first leg will be on December 12th and the return leg a week later on December 19th.

All second round winners then advance to the third round where they will take part in three home-and-away matches starting on January 9th with the eventual winners joining host nation Barbados in the CFU final round of qualification in late February.

The regions top three teams will secure Caribbean berths and advance to next July's CONCACAF Gold Cup competition in the United States.