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St. Vincent on the warpath

Bermuda will face a fired up St. Vincent this afternoon, knowing they will have to be more clinical if they are to retain their 100 percent record in the Digicel Cup.

The hosts were held to a somewhat embarrassing draw by the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday and will be feeling the pressure today in front of angry and partisan crowds.

The tournament has turned slightly sour for St. Vincent, clear favourites to top the group and a side whose World Cup campaign only ended very recently.

They were left questioning international eligibility rules after their 1-1 draw with BVI, as the visitors played a handful of former St. Vincent players in their side.

With BVI players needing only two years residency to qualify for international football, new English coach Brian Davies has assembled a squad of former St. Vincent and Jamaican internationals and they proved their new might against the hosts.

That result, described by Bermuda?s assistant coach Paul Scope as ?perfect?, has changed the dynamics of the group and means Bermuda still have two tough games to get through if they want to progress to the next round of the competition.

And the tame draw puts further pressure on the hosts, though they do welcome back possibly their strongest player who missed out on the BVI game through suspension.

?They are going to be really fired up for this one,? said Scope after watching the draw.

?I always thought there might be a bit of an ?after the Lord Mayor?s show? performance following their World Cup exit but BVI also played very well and showed they are no mugs.

?The St. Vincent team is very different from the one I watched in the World Cup, they were missing their captain who picked up a really nasty knock in the last game although their vice-captain, who can be quite a dangerous player, will be back.

?They are going to be under a bit of pressure from the crowd after that last result so we can expect a tough game.?

Bermuda welcome back Kentoine Jennings following his suspension but coach Kyle Lightbourne will decide at the last minute whether he will start the veteran.

The coach, whose side beat Cayman 2-1 in the opening game, is expected to name a largely unchanged side unless Clevon Hill and John Barry Nusum fail to recover from knocks picked up on Wednesday.

?We are going to have to be more clinical than we were against Cayman,? said Scope, who revealed that the players were adhering to strict dietary requirements and a curfew for the duration of the tournament.

?We went two up in that game but it should have been more and then they changed their tactics at the break and pulled one back.

?The result was probably never in doubt but it should have been more comfortable for us and we need to be mentally stronger for this game.?

Heavy rain has turned the Arnos Vale Playing Field into something of a quagmire, which left Bermuda?s players struggling after Wednesday?s game.

So yesterday was spent mostly working in a swimming pool for fear of weary players picking up injury on the ?awful and way below standard? practice pitch Bermuda have been assigned.

?The mood is good,? added Scope.

?We were pleased to get the three points in the bag and pleased to watch our competitors drop a couple of points each.

?We are in the driving seat at the moment and we just need to concentrate and play to our strengths and hopefully we can get another good result.

?The pitch is very heavy but that probably suits us best as we play a more physical game, a cross between British style and Caribbean style.?