Bermuda coach Kenny Thompson has stressed the importance of making a winning start to their Digicel Cup campaign, admitting: "Victory against Antigua will really ease the pressure."

Thompson has warned his team that they do not want to playing catch up after tonight's curtain raiser against the Antiguans, who are expected to pose Bermuda the greatest threat to topping their group.

"It's crucial to get off to a good start in any group competition," he said. "Antigua are our first hurdle and it's important we get off to winning start.

"You certainly don't want to be playing catch up after the first game. We want to ease the pressure on ourselves and put the pressure on our opponents."

The Gombey Warriors coach wants to unleash his full array of attacking talents upon Antigua and believes he can afford to more gung-ho is his tactics than he was against Trinidad in their recent World Cup qualifiers.

"I think we will be able to find a better balance between defence and attack against Antigua than we did against Trinidad," said Thompson.

"Trinidad were a dangerous opponent and the reality was we had to defend more than we would have liked. But in these games we should be able to find more attacking movements."

Thompson will only have starturn Khano Smith available for tonight's match with the 27-year-old winger set to fly back to Boston for New England Revolution duty tomorrow.

The lanky long-striker has only recently regained his Revs' first team jersey after a lengthy spell as a substitute and Thompson knows they must make the most of Smith's short-term availability.

"Khano is a professional now and we want him to give us as much output as possible so we can get a good result against Antigua.

"We discussed the situation with him and it's important we look out for his personal well-being. He has a professional career at New England Revolution and he needs to do the right things to stay in that environment and so we found a compromise."

Bermuda take on Antigua tonight at the Trueman Bodden Sports Complex at 7.30 p.m. (Bermuda time).