Bermuda 1 Dominica 2

Bermuda coach Aaron Denkins was left disheartened after his side let an early lead slip to endure the agony of finishing the Concacaf Women's Under-20 qualifiers without a win, losing their final match to Dominica in Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday.

Avani Patton gave Aaron Denkins’s team a brilliant start with a goal in the fourth minute. However, Dominica hit back with through Kiyanna Phillip in the eleventh minute and Le-Myah Forde in the seventeenth for Bermuda to finish bottom of group E with no points.

“Our efforts were not good enough,” Denkins told The Royal Gazette. “The plan was always to settle the ball and play the game, something we didn’t do.

“There are always positives and negatives during matches and despite our best efforts to fix the first-half performance, Dominica remained the team who wanted it the most.”

Searching for a first win since losing to Trinidad and Canada, Denkins made four changes from the defeat by Canada.

From a short corner played with Robin-Valana Pearman, Patton took a shot at goal, with her effort taking a deflection off Adaiyah Espirit and falling to the Bermudian winger to score the team’s first goal of the qualifiers.

Dominica besieged the Bermuda goal with Lander and Le-Myah Forde pushing for an equaliser. Disaster struck when goalkeeper Dominique Brown’s attempted goal kick went straight to Kiyanna Phillip, and the forward lofted the ball over the keeper.

Six minutes later, Dominica had the lead as Lander’s through ball found Forde, who rounded Brown to score what proved to be the winner off the post.

Phillip could not keep her effort down after finding herself unattended in the box for Bermuda to survive in the 23rd minute.

Denkins made a change in goal at half-time, replacing Brown with first-choice keeper Taya Rodrigues.

Lander was allowed room inside the box to take a shot at goal in the 54th minute with her shot sailing over.

In the 72nd minute, Patton made a great run on the right to send in a cross for DeSilva Madeiros, but the ball was charged down by Dominica goalkeeper Galisha Lockhart.

Bermuda pushed for an equaliser in the last ten minutes, with captain Katherine Bean-Rosario Bean and DeSilva Madeiros coming close.

In the 87th minute, Valana-Pearman had her stinging shot tipped over for a corner by Lockhart in what was Bermuda’s last chance to salvage a point.

Denkins took to Trinidad a number of players who will be heading off to Mexico for the Concacaf Women's Championship next month, the final qualifier for the Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup. These are Rodrigues, Jayla Peets-Butterfield, Saony Trott, Patton, Ja’Shay Trott, and Keyandae Lightbourne.

“The under-17 players in the team should be commended for stepping in and playing with the team because without their numbers, we would not have been able to enter the competition,” the coach said. “They gained valuable experience that should carry over to their next tournament.”

SCORERS

Bermuda: Patton 4

Dominica: Phillip 11, Forde 17,

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-3-3): D Brown (sub: Rodrigues, 46) – N White, S Darrell, C Lugo-Elibox, S Trott – K Bean-Rosario, K Lightbourne, K Brooks-Smith – A Patton, B DeSilva Medeiros, R Valana-Pearman. Substitutes not used: A Haffar, J Peets-Butterfield, B Pocheco, K Murray, R Brangman, J Trott, C Young-Gibbons, E Tuzo, S Berkeley. Booked: Darrell

Dominica (4-3-3): G Lockhart – S Lancaster, S St Rose, K George, A Espirit – A Francis (sub: Felix, 73), C Lecointe, E Lander – K Phillip, L Forde, T Pierre Louis. Substitutes notused: D Daniel, Z Langford, K Shillingford, Z Pascal, A Louis, A Henry, S Stedman. Booked: Lander

Referee: S Wilkinson (Saint Kitts and Nevis).