Two late second half goals in the space of four minutes brought Bermuda's Cinderella run in the Under-17 World Cup qualifying tournament to a screeching halt at the Campo La Polar grounds in Mirimar, Havana yesterday.

A 72nd minute strike from Jorge Monejon and another in the 76th minute by Javis Alonso punctuated a dominant Cuban performance and sent several hundred fans rejoicing into the Havana sunset.

To further underline the Cuba's dominance, Bermuda - reduced to chasing shadows for most of the match - were only afforded a single shot on goal during the entire 90 minutes.

Not even the presence of over 100 Bermuda supporters, among them Sports Minister Randy Horton who drew loud applause from both Cuban and visiting fans alike as he danced to the pulsating beat of the Gombey drums, could halt a Cuban attack that kept Bermuda on the defensive all afternoon.

There were also several dignitaries on hand. CONCACAF vice-president Lisle Austin was the designated match commissioner while former Cuban World Cup star Juan Frizo came onto the pitch to greet the players prior to the start. Local referee's assistant Gregory Simons, meanwhile, made his FIFA debut in a international match as an assistant to Jamaican referee Victor Stewart.

Bermuda again opted for a defensive approach while the Cubans preferred to throw caution to the wind and stacked the deck heavily up front.

Barely three minutes into the match, Cuba almost took the lead when Jardel Martinez forced Bermuda goalie Daniel Johnson into action. Johnson dived brilliantly full-length to push the Cuban forward's blast from 12 yards around the post for a corner.

Cuba seemed to handle the quagmire conditions at the rural ground better than their guests and found themselves with yet another opportunity to open their account when Martinez pierced the Bermuda defence with a diagonal pass which sent Monejon through but again Johnson was up to the task and encountered little trouble taking the sting out of the Cuban' shot from the edge of the 18 yard box.

Bermuda played a cat and mouse game, anxiously waiting to catch the Cuban defence off guard, but it was they themselves who were almost caught napping when Mario Leonard got clear and should have planted his header from inside the six yards box into the net. But somehow he missed the target.

The Bermuda fans then breathed a huge sigh of relief when Cuba had an appeal for a penalty fall on deaf ears.

Bermuda got their sole shot on goal in the 35th minute when skipper Kyle Outerbridge slammed a 30 yard free kick into the Cuban wall.

At the other end, it was a case of false alarm when Cuba's Leonard put the ball in the back of the net but not before ref Stewart had blown for offside.

Leonard also received a booking for kicking the ball away after the whistle.

Bermuda were fortunate to escape when Alonso watched in disbelief as his back post header rolled harmlessly wide. An during another Cuba raid, Alberto Mirauda found Monejon free in the middle but the player completely miskicked in front of goal.

The second half was but a carbon copy of the first with Bermuda waiting to pounce while Cuba continued to attack relentlessly.

All their hard work finally paid off when Monejon somehow managed to get a boot to a low cross and squeeze his shot in at Johnson' far post through a maze of Bermuda defenders. The diminutive Cuban striker was shown a yellow card for prolonging his post goal celebrations in front of a frenzied Cuban crowd.

Before the dust had settled, Alonso put the match beyond Bermuda's reach with a blistering drive from 12 yards out that whistled past Johnson and flew into the net.

After all was said and done, it was Cuba who would enjoy the last dance as the Gombey drummers played on.

Cuba: M.Leonard, K.Jorge, M.Jorge (L.Martinez, 85 mins), M.Jose, L.Duartes (L.Gasniel, 90 mins), M.Garcia, M.Diaz, Y.Canillo, J.Martinez, J.Alonso

Bermuda: D.Johnson, M.Burch, R.Richardson, L.Alexander, A.Lowe, K.Outerbridge, Z.Darrell (T.Watson, 45 mins), T.Manders, D.Swan, K.Bean (A.Simmons, 65 mins), C.Castle (S.Darrell, 84 mins)

Booked: M.Leonard, M.Jorge (Cuba): D.Swan, K.Outerbridge (Bermuda)

Men of the match: M.Jorge (Cuba): L.Alexander (Bermuda).

Referee: Victor Stewart (Jamaica).