Bermuda 2 Dominican Republic 3

Bermuda coach Michael Findlay was left disappointed after his side twice let the lead slip through their fingers as they lost a five-goal thriller against ten-man Dominican Republic in the Concacaf Nations League in Antigua & Barbuda on Saturday.

The result was a bitter blow as Dominican Republic played most of the match with one player short after striker Edarlyn Reyes was sent off for a tackle on debutant Blaiz Hall in the eleventh minute.

“It was extremely disappointing given that we put ourselves in a position to gain maximum points,’’ Findlay told The Royal Gazette.

“Unfortunately, we were not the ones who were efficient enough and ruthless enough when we needed to be. On our errors, we created opportunities for them to execute and they did.”

Kane Crichlow opened the scoring for Bermuda in the seventeenth minute, but his goal was cancelled out by Dorny Romero’s equaliser ten minutes before the break.

Reggie Lambe, on his return to the side after missing the 6-1 loss to Honduras in June, put Bermuda ahead in the 51st minute, but Heinz Mörschel brought the scores level after 62 minutes of play.

Just when the game looked likely to finish in a draw, substitute Ronaldo Vásquez secured all the three points for Dominican Republic with six minutes to go.

“Football is cruel and it’s a game of fine margins,” Findlay said. “We demonstrated resilience and some positive play, some actions that should have created something, but it didn’t.

“We missed an opportunity. The players and the staff know that and we have to work internally to ensure that we correct that.”

Findlay also gave an insight into the difficulties playing against a side one man short for the bulk of the match.

“Playing against ten men is very interesting,’’ he said. “There’s a mentality that you have the extra person, so there’s always going to somebody else doing the work for you.

“It does have its positives and negatives, and it motivates the other team. They tactically changed and they put themselves into a low block. When they caught us, they did so in transition, and that’s a problem that we have to solve.

“We created a very nice pattern of play out on the left side, with Luke and Blaiz, and ultimately with Kane, I think it was a good goal. At that moment, we should have continued to press forward.

“In the second half, we went up again and we should have completed the task. On two different occasions, Kole Hall hit the bar. We also had one low down, where probably Blaiz, if he had it back, the game would have been over.”

Findlay was also keen to point out the level of ability within the opposition squad.

“Even with ten men, you could see the qualities that Dominican Republic have. They’re technically very gifted and they’re physically conditioned well.

“The majority of their players play in professional leagues. They were very difficult opponents, but we again showed that we can be competitive for periods of time.

“We need to find more consistency in that. We have to become more ruthless and most importantly we need to execute in the final act.”

With players such as Zeiko Lewis, Remy Coddington and Djair Parfitt-Williams absent, Findlay gave Blaiz Hall his senior debut and the St George’s livewire made a mark in the 66 minutes he spent on the field.

“We made a couple of changes and it was great to give Blaiz Hall his debut at senior level,’’ the coach said.

“He had an impressive first half but at the end of the day you can see that he hasn't played a lot of international football. Those are the lessons that he will learn too, but it was nice to get him into the game.

“Kosi [Basden] came in at right back and, unfortunately for him, he committed one of the mistakes, but it’s good to be able to expand the squad.

“It’s good to come back from the game against Honduras and put in a strong performance but as I have always said, these performances have to end up having results, and that’s what we need to strive for.”

SCORERS

Bermuda: Crichlow 17, Lambe 51

Dominican Republic: Romero 35, Mörschel 62, Vásquez 84

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-3-2-1): D Eve – C Basden (sub: W Clemons, 78min), D Leverock, H TwiTe, L Robinson – N Tucker, K Martin (sub: Lee, 71) – K Crichlow, R Lambe (sub: E Russell, 78), B Hall (sub: J Bean, 66) – K Hall. Substitutes not used: D Bell, M Perott, D Usher, Z Burgess, J Butterfield-Steede, A Todd, K Scott, T Showers. Booked: Basden, Martin

Dominican Republic (4-3-3): X Valdez – J Baez (sub: R Vásquez, 21), Ademán (sub: C Ventura, 63), C Schoissengeyr, M Sambataro (sub: C García, 21) – R Mata (sub: J Pineda, 86), H Mörschel, Jean López – D Romero (sub: L Bretón, 86), J Firpo, E Reyes. Substitutes not used: M Lloyd, P Ramírez, M Agramonte, G de Peña, I Báez, Á de Oca, C Ortiz. Sent off: Reyes

Referee: S Bass (St Kitts & Nevis).