Antigua & Barbuda 0 Bermuda 1

Kane Crichlow scored the only goal of the game as Bermuda picked up an invaluable first win in the Nations League on Tuesday.

Crichlow struck in the 56th minute as the Gombey Warriors secured a vital victory over the hosts to finish the international break with three points from their two games.

It was the 24-year-old’s second consecutive goal after finding the net in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat by Dominican Republic.

Coach Michael Findlay had stressed the importance of leaving Antigua with a victory in the build-up to the game and the win leaves Bermuda second in League B Group 4, level on points with Dominica, who lost 2-0 earlier in the day to group leaders Dominican Republic, on six points.

While delighted by the result, the Bermuda coach is still looking for improvement with his side already gearing up for potentially decisive back-to-back games against Dominica next month.

“From a result point of view, I’m absolutely pleased because the job today was about getting three points,’’ Findlay told The Royal Gazette.

“We had to keep the group alive, that was the objective and we met that objective. For that I’m happy, but overall we still have a lot of work to do.

“We know that and we go back to our efforts to continue to be better and move forward. In general, we’re happy with getting the three points coming home for a double-header against Dominica in October.

“It sets it up for two very good games, for the fans and for the competition. We have to do our homework, as we always do on our opponents.

“We have to look at ourselves, first and foremost. What we have done and what we’re doing, and what we’re going to do.

“The players are looking forward to coming home and playing in front of home crowds for two games in a row.

“Usually these windows it’s a home game and away game, then now you've got two games back-to-back, so they’re very excited about it.

“We’re all looking to, hopefully, delivering on performances like this today and there’s six points for us at the end of the October window.”

Bermuda were superior than their opponents in most aspects of the game, with 58 per cent possession and 18 shots, eight of them on target. They also completed 421 passes, with a pass accuracy of 85 per cent, and forced eight corners.

But Bermuda’s failure to convert their dominant statistics into goals continues to be an issue for the team and the the coach.

“It seems to be a situation that continues to dog us and that’s something we continually have to work on,” the coach said.

“From a performance point of view, we have to be pleased in terms of our possession, territorial and our creating numbers and opportunities.

“All of those things don’t mean much if don’t execute at the end of the day. We’ve had these conversations before, and quite frankly, I’m getting a little bit tired of having the conversation. I'd rather be speaking about scoring goals not the ones that we missed.

“I would be more concerned if we were not getting ourselves into these positions. We are getting ourselves into these positions, but we’re not executing and we’re not ruthless enough.

“We have to continue to work on that in training. We also have to look at how we balance the team in terms of selection, who’s getting into those positions and is that the player we want in that position?”

“It’s all part of the process, and we continue looking for the answers as to why we’re not scoring lots of goals.”

Findlay breathed a sigh of relief after his side finally went 90 minutes without conceding, having conceded nine times in their previous two matches.

“Keeping a clean sheet is always important because it’s good for the mentality of the players,’’ the Canadian said.

“It’s also good for the competition, because we wanted to keep our goal average in a healthy position. If it comes down to a tie, we have to be keenly aware of that also.

“When I look at our goals in the last two matches, we should be taking credit for the goals Dominican Republic scored because we supplied them with our efforts and mistakes. Previously in the Honduras game, a portion of that was also on us.”