Montserrat?s footballers will certainly be glad there?s no February 29th in the next three years.

Hopefully, the fact that Leap Years only come every four years will help ease the nightmarish pains of yesterday?s 13-0 humiliation by Bermuda ? an event that will forever be synonymous with February?s extra day.

However, judging by the words and tone of losing coach William Lewis there?s going to be a lot of hurting for a long time among players from the volcano-ravaged country.

?My guys just didn?t compete as well as they can. They can play a lot better. Some of the guys were playing for the first time so I don?t know if they had some jitters but it wasn?t a good showing,? said the former Antigua national player looking and sounding dejected.

?I know they can play a lot better than that. I believe my team can compete with Bermuda. It should have been a much better game. I know that for a fact. It wasn?t good at all.?

Assessing his squad?s 90-minute misery, he noted there was nothing ? other than ?a bit of trouble with some high wind? ? that should have unduly perturbed the Caribbean visitors at the National Sports Centre.

However, six goals by the home team in the first half and another seven in the second, told a very different tale, Lewis conceded.

He said that at half-time they ?tried to assess what was going on outside?.

?To me, it was more mental than anything else. We spoke about it and about the fact that we came here to compete.

?When they went back out in the second half I still saw a lethargic approach in how some of the guys ? especially in the defence ? were playing.

?You can?t sub four, five or six guys on a football field. You can only make three substitutes,? noted the coach, outlining his helplessness during the merciless onslaught.

One goal especially disturbed him and he used it to underline his disappointment with the defenders.

?There was a throw-in and a Bermudian player just ran on and shot the ball and the (Montserrat) defenders were facing their own goal. That tells any coach something is wrong, very wrong,? the 51-year-old pointed out.

Asked if, in hindsight, it was a mistake not have have exposed the players to what they could expect with some international friendlies, he replied: ?Probably it would have been nice but we were in some serious training and plus the English guys (England-based players) couldn?t come down until a certain time.?

Lewis applauded the host team?s clinical demolition, saying Bermuda truly exhibited a ?beautiful game?.

?Their running off the ball was very good and the shooting was superb. If you give anybody on a football field room like that they will seize their opportunities.?

Regarding whether Montserrat ? gripped by volcanic devastation since July 1995 ? are out of their depth at World Cup level, the coach said he has to tip his cap to what the island has been able to achieve despite great limitations.

?I have to give the people there credit for where they are right now . . . because about two-thirds of the country is damaged by the volcano.

?They have come a long way. Football has brought the people closer together and we?re trying to build a formidable national team. I?m hoping we will be able to do that in another two or three years if we can get some more players out of England and show that we?re a fighting team.?

Having put in three months of preparation, he said the Montserratians are ?very upset with themselves? and will be aiming to repay the compliment on home turf in three weeks.

?We?re just going to beat Bermuda when they come to Montserrat. Bermuda know we can beat them but here we just didn?t compete as well as we should have,? he declared optimistically.