Caymans 2 Bermuda 0 Bermuda were outfought as the Cayman Islands produced a fine performance to book their passage into the next round of the Caribbean Cup last night.

Lee Ramoon grabbed two superb goals as the home side imposed their physical superiority on a visiting team who faded as the game went on.

And substitutes Eric Brown and Carlos Welcome missed excellent chances in the last few minutes which could have made the result even more humiliating for Clyde Best's side.

However, it could have been very different if Bermuda, who started impressively, had taken advantage of the early chances that came their way.

The Caymans, who celebrated at the final whistle with what amounted to almost an impromptu party, were rewarded for coach Ken Forgarty's gamble of packing his side with defenders even though they needed to score two goals to oust Cuba from the top of the group.

Further disappointment came for Bermuda when David Bascome was stretchered off midway through the second half with a knee injury and was rushed to hospital for an X-ray.

Bermuda had made two changes from the team that lost against Cuba. Bascome, who played as a makeshift striker on Friday, dropped back into his favoured midfield position in the berth vacated by the red-carded Dennis Robinson, while the promising Damon Ming was given his chance in the left wing back position in preference to Chris Sabir.

Dwight Basden was brought into partner Kyle Lightbourne up front and Kentoine Jennings reverted into the back three with Neil Paynter moving into midfield.

The Caymans, meanwhile, brought in four new faces from the team that held Cuba 2-2 last Wednesday. That meant that no fewer than seven of their outfield players were first and foremost defenders.

However, the tactic seemed to give their rearguard and midfield extra bite as they denied Bermuda room to show their superior skills.

Best added: "I thought they were a lot sharper than us today but that's to be expected as they had a chance of qualifying for the next round. Obviously I'm disappointed again but this is something we've got to learn from and the only way to learn is to play games.

"I mean, the Caymans have had four games in the lead-up to this and Cuba have had 10 games. We've had three in 14 months.'' Bermuda started well with Bascome breaking on the left in the fourth minute but being unable to find an unmarked Dwight Basden in the middle. Then Basden turned superbly but saw his left foot shot charged down.

The home side responded with a fine ball into space down the left from Romeo Thomas which Ramoon reached. He put in a deep cross towards the penalty spot which Figuereido claimed well.

Bermuda suffered an early injury blow when Devarr Boyles appeared to pull a hamstring and after 11 minutes he was replaced by Karl Roberts.

Basden's willingness to chase every ball was causing the Caymans' defence all kinds of problems. He forced a defender into giving away a corner and indecision in the Cayman defence almost gifted Bermuda the opening goal.

But Caymans took the lead on 18 minutes somewhat against the run of play when Colin Rowe evaded two challenges on the left side of the area and slotted a fine ball into two unmarked players in the centre. One of them, Ramoon, collected the pass, turned and chipped a fine shot past Figuereido.

Lightbourne finally showed his class in the 22nd minute, picking a ball up 30 yards out, knocking it over a defender and sending in a rasping shot which goalkeeper Whittaker knew little about as he deflected it for a corner.

The visitors escaped cries for a penalty after 61 minutes when Rowe went down under a challenge from Jennings after surging onto a lovely back heel but referee Peter Prendergast gave Bermuda the benefit of the doubt. The Caymans finally got their reward with 10 minutes to go when Brown flipped the ball to Ramoon on the left of the area and he took it onto to his left foot before slamming home an unstoppable shot.