Bermuda 3 Honduras 5

Bermuda came close to causing a massive upset before surrendering a two-goal lead against Honduras in the Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary round first leg last night.

With heavy rain pounding Flora Duffy Stadium minutes before kick off, and with the wind blowing in their favour, Michael Findlay’s side took advantage of the weather conditions to go into the break 2-0 up.

Kane Crichlow stunned the visitors after 37 seconds and Djair Parfitt-Williams extended that lead a minute before half-time.

Photo gallery: Bermuda 3 Honduras 5

Honduras hit back with three goals in six second-half minutes. Romell Quioto scored twice, with Luis Palma, Julián Martínez and José Pinto each scoring once.

Zeiko Lewis converted a late penalty for the Gombey Warriors as Honduras took a two-goal advantage into the second leg in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday.

Findlay, whose tactics worked for an hour, spoke of how heartbroken his players were after the defeat by the seventh-best team in the region.

“The boys are disappointed because they put themselves in a great position,” Findlay told The Royal Gazette.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t able to keep the gate closed. But this is the learning process for us. We saw what happens when you start to lose focus.

“We were incredibly pleased with the effort and the commitment of the players. That is not an easy way to play and, quite frankly, it’s not an enjoyable way to play. But at times, your opponent will dictate what we may have to do.

“What we did was plan for this game and we implemented the plan during the week of preparation. I can say the players delivered textbook quality in that regard.”

Bermuda made a dream start when they scored after a few touches from the kick off. Enrique Russell shipped the ball out wide to Parfitt-Williams, with the winger’s cross finding Crichlow to score with a header.

A minute before the break, on one of the rare occasions that Grenadian referee Reon Radix gave a free kick in Bermuda’s favour, Parfitt-Williams took advantage of some hesitation from Edrick Menjívar, the Honduras goalkeeper, to extend the home team’s lead.

Having admirably held their higher-ranked opponents with a defence featuring two debutants, Bermuda’s rearguard was breached on the hour mark. Kervin Arriaga delivered the cross for Quioto to score his first of the night.

Brilliant off the ball movement by Palma levelled the game for Honduras in the 64th minute. The Olympiacos winger started the move, swiftly moved forward to receive the final pass from Jorge Álvarez, and slammed the ball past Dale Eve.

Honduras had the lead for the first time 66 minutes into the encounter. Palma turned provider with a cross for Quioto to head in for his brace.

Eve used his feet to brilliantly block out substitute Jorge Benguché’s powerful low strike for a corner with five minutes left. There was nothing the Bermuda captain could do to stop Martínez from scoring the fourth goal for Honduras a minute before the end.

There was still something for the 545 fans to cheer about as Kieron Richardson, who made his international debut with his central defensive partner Julian Carpenter, was impeded in the box from a corner.

Lewis, the scorer of Bermuda’s only goal in a 6-1 defeat by the same opponents last June, sent Menjívar the wrong way.

Just when Bermuda thought they were going to lose by a one-goal margin, Radix handed Honduras a chance to score when he awarded them a questionable set piece. From that dead ball situation, Yustin Arboleda put Pinto through for him to slice the ball into Eve’s near post.

Findlay lamented his team’s conceding of goals in dying stages of matches, something that has characterised his tenure.

“If we look at our data and our reviews, we have trouble closing games off,” the coach said.

“We have a very unfortunate habit of losing more goals in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the game, when we should be shutting it down and understanding how to manage the game. That’s something that these guys have to learn going forward.

The Canadian, who guided Grenada to the Gold Cup in 2021, was not pleased with the officiating.

“I thought the refereeing in the last five to ten minutes was poor,” Findlay said.

“Referees don’t win or lose games, let’s be honest. I’m not the type to moan about referees, but they didn’t have a great game tonight, just like we didn’t have a great second half.”

SCORERS

Bermuda: Crichlow 1, Parfitt-Williams 44, Lewis 90+2 pen

Honduras: Quioto 60, 66, Palma 64, Martínez 89, Pinto 90+4

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-1-4-1): D Eve 6 – L Simmons 6 (sub: E Blankendal, 68, 6), R Jones 6, J Carpenter 6, K Richardson 6 – R Lee 6 (sub: A Todd, 77), – K Martin 6 (sub: N Tucker, 77), K Crichlow 7, R Lambe 6 (sub: Z Lewis 65, 6), D Parfitt-Williams 7 (sub: S Ming, 65, 6) – E Russell 6. Substitutes not used: D Bell, M. Perott, K Scott, M Mobray, J Butterfield-Steede. Booked: Jones, Lee, Russell.

Honduras (4-2-3-1): E Menjívar 6 – A Nájar 6, D Maldonado 6, J Martínez 6, F Flores 6 – D Flores 6, K Arriaga 6 (sub: R García, 86),—R Quioto 8 (sub: Pinto, 90) J Álvarez 6 (sub: A López, 77), L Palma 7 – E Hernández 6 (sub: J Benguche, 46, 6). Substitutes not used: H Aranda, H Fonseca, M Licona, C Meléndez, J Jean-Baptiste, E Rivas, L Vega. Booked: Arriaga

Referee: R Radix (Grenada).