Bermuda?s final preparations for last night?s crucial Digicel Cup clash with Haiti were thrown into disarray by a nightmare journey to the Caribbean.

With their American Airlines plane experiencing mechanical problems on Friday morning in New York, the squad had to wait for over four hours at John F. Kennedy International airport while a replacement was found ? a delay which meant they missed their connecting flight in Miami.

Forced to spend the night in Florida and catch the first available flight the next morning, Kyle Lightbourne?s men did not arrive at the team hotel until just after four in the afternoon.

And with the venue for the Haiti game ? the Ato Bolden stadium ? over an hour away and the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain being re-seeded, the only viable training facility available to Bermuda was the ramshackle Savannah parklands in the centre of the capital.

The team then arrived at the Savannah with a little under 40 minutes of daylight remaining to find all three football pitches already in use, leaving them no choice but to play on a disused rugby field nearby where the spiky grass was at least 15 inches high.

In contrast to Bermuda?s ill-fated and stressful journey, meanwhile, the Haitians arrived in Trinidad on December 28 and according to local media reports, trained at the Ato Bolden Stadium almost every day.

Despite the headaches, however, coaches Lightbourne and Paul Scope appeared to take the farcical training arrangements in good humour, with the former Coventry City striker insisting afterwards they were not going to use their travel difficulties as an excuse.

?Obviously it?s not been ideal, but at this stage we just have to get on with it,? he said.

?We could have driven out to the (Ato Bolden) stadium and trained under lights, but the guys had been travelling a lot and we didn?t want to put them through another lengthy journey so close to the game.

?The only thing that was available at the time was the Savannah, and while we?re not happy about how things turned out, the only thing we can do is make the best of it.

?We had some good sessions in Bermuda before we left and we?ve been in these sorts of situations before in the Caribbean.

?We?ve just told the guys not to worry about it and just focus on the job they?ve got to do.?