Bermuda coach Kyle Lightbourne is delighted to almost certainly have Shaun Goater in his squad for the Digicel Cup adventure in St. Vincent next week.

The former Manchester City frontman looks to have recovered from his calf injury (see column below) and is expected to confirm his place in Lightbourne?s 18-man squad tomorrow. The big striker would then join up with his team-mates early next week.

Although Lightbourne will not be naming his squad until Thursday, he confirmed overseas pros Damon Ming and John Barry Nusum would be returning from Conference side Barnet and Major Indoor Soccer League outfit Philadelphia KiXX respectively for the three Group E encounters.

David Bascome, who also plays indoors in the United States, and Kevin Richards, living in London but currently out of training, will not be making the return trip for the competition.

?It is a great boost to have Shaun back,? said Lightbourne, whose side take on St. Vincent next Wednesday in the former pro?s first ever game as a coach.

?Obviously he brings a lot of experience with him and he is a great asset to the side. He is a player a lot of people look up to and I?m delighted he is likely to come back for us.?

He admitted that Goater ?wasn?t the be all and end all of the squad? and may be used sparingly given these will be his first matches since limping off for Reading with a calf injury last month in the Championship against Leeds.

Lightbourne said he had selected 18 players for the tournament, in which Bermuda also take on Cayman and the British Virgin Islands, which includes Goater but he has a replacement in mind should the Reading striker suffer any relapses.

The national squad trained last night and will do so again tonight and tomorrow and leave the Island next Monday.

Lightbourne, however, is a little unhappy with the rules of the competition that limit sides to just 18 players.

?I would rather take 23, that is what I?d prefer,? said the former Coventry, Stoke and Walsall striker who spent 11 years as a professional in the UK for nine different clubs.

?But the rules say 18 so that is what we are going to have to go with. That doesn?t leave a lot of room for injuries so we will have to make the best of it.?

Bermuda will face their stiffest test in the opening game against hosts St.Vincent in Kingston before taking on Cayman in their second game and then finishing with BVI, a side they destroyed in World Cup qualifying four years ago.

The tournament will see Bermuda in action for the first time since former coach Kenny Thompson saw his side run El Salvador close in World Cup qualifying, but Lightbourne says he is not feeling the pressure ahead of his opening game at the helm.

?I?m not nervous at the moment,? he told

?Just before the game maybe I will be. I will be nervous for the players and hoping they will do well. I?m not feeling any pressure, I am just going to do my best for Bermuda and I know the players will as well.

?These are exciting times. There is a lot going on and I am hoping for some good results so the country can get behind us again.

?I really believe we can win this group.?

Trinidad, currently ranked 64th in the world, are heavily favoured to win Group D in the Digicel Cup, which also contains Suriname, Puerto Rico and Grenada. And the winners from Group D will play the runners-up from Group E in the second round while the Group D runners-up will meet the winners of Group E.

The Digicel Cup competition consist of 24 teams placed into six groups of four with the two top teams from each group progressing to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) second round qualifiers, composed of six home-and-away series matches ? the first leg on December 12 and the return leg a week later on December 19.

All second round winners then advance to the third round where they will take part in three home-and-away encounters, starting on January 9 with the eventual victors joining host nation Barbados in the CFU final round of qualification in late February.

The region?s top three teams will secure Caribbean berths and advance to next July?s CONCACAF Gold Cup competition in the USA.