Former national coach and ex-West Ham striker Clyde Best is at odds with Bermuda Football Association over their tentative plan to schedule the FA Cup first round replay between his team, Ireland Rangers, and Key West Rangers on January 18.

The teams played to a 3-3 draw on Sunday after extra time at St. John's field.

Charles Clarke, chairman of the BFA's competitions committee, noted yesterday that in all probability the replay would be held along with the remainder of the first round matches in the third week of the New Year.

"The problem is that nobody has lights right now and with the grounds not decent enough for night fixtures, holding the replay on January 18 appears to be the next best bet," said Clarke.

However, he pointed out that if a club were to approach the BFA and confirm that their ground was available for such a night fixture then the game could be brought forward.

Best said he didn't welcome the news last night when told of the BFA's options, pointing out that all other countries in the world rescheduled FA Cup replays within a matter of days.

"I don't want to be overly critical with anybody but I really do think it is a shame. Yes, everybody else holds similar games straight away rather than sitting and waiting, but we seem to do so many things different in this little Island," said the first-term coach of the First Division side.

"Why must it be played at night anyway? We played during the day on Sunday and all went well, why can't we play again this Sunday?" he questioned.

According to Best, Sunday would be ideal since his team are idle as they were originally matched against Social Club who have pulled out of the league.

His hope was that Ireland Rangers, their opponents and the BFA could get together and give strong consideration to getting the game played as soon as possible with this Sunday being the most convenient date.

"It would be nice to get it over with, you shouldn't have to wait until January, it's too long" Best insisted.

But the possibility of a January replay didn't bother Key West Rangers' player-coach Ricky Mallory. In fact, he welcomed it, noting the delay would give his team of veterans ample time to recover from Sunday's 120 minutes of soccer.

Mallory said it would also give his side extra time to prepare for the second battle which he expected to be even more intense.

"Such a delay is better for us, I'm not complaining," said Mallory. "We picked up a few injuries, some with hamstring problems. You know we older guys are prone to injuries, we can't last 120 minutes, that's for sure," he said.

"We will be better off if we wait until January 18 when we will also be better off number wise.

"With the injuries that we have, combined with the fact that we are still missing some players through work commitments because of the hurricane clean-up, we should be better off in two months' time."