Kyle Lightbourne believes it was a mistake to schedule domestic matches on the same weekend as Bermuda’s international friendly at home to Barbados.

The Bermuda interim coach named Willie Clemons and Donte Brangman in his starting line-up, with both players also involved in the FA Cup preliminary round matches for their clubs the following day.

Lightbourne feels it would have been preferable had the Bermuda Football Association rescheduled the three cup ties for another weekend.

“I don’t think the [cup] games should have been going on,” Lightbourne said. “But the BFA didn’t [decide to] do that.”

Lightbourne said that Sunday’s cup matches partly influenced his decision to replace Clemons with Ian Coke on the hour mark. Bermuda were leading 2-1 at the time.

“I thought Willie played well,” Lightbourne said. “It was just unfortunate what was going on in my mind with BAA playing the next day.

“That has nothing to do with this game and I’m thinking about BAA because I know he has to play.

“I was thinking about Donte, too, who was also playing for Southampton Rangers.”

Clemons played the full game in BAA’s 2-1 win over Corona League side West End United, as did Brangman in Rangers’ 3-0 victory over Devonshire Colts. Paget Lions beat Somerset Eagles 4-1 in the other match.

The BFA’s decision to play the ties on the same weekend as Bermuda’s clash with Barbados also came under criticism from Kenny Thompson, the BAA coach.

Thompson, a former Bermuda coach, wrote on Facebook: “The BFA’s local rule with regards to international matches and local matches being scheduled on the same date/weekend is that in order for a club match to be rescheduled when a club’s registered players are selected to represent the national team, the club must have four team members selected for national team duty.

“What was the thought process when this rule was made? This represents just over a third of a team’s starting players as the national team will select a club’s highest-performing players in order to make the national team strong — and rightfully so.

“Should the club also want to be able to select from its highest-performing players too?

“Keeping in mind that the Fifa guidelines for national team matches scheduled outside of the Fifa calendar dates give the local match priority in player selection conflicts. While I support the players decision in playing with the national team, I totally disagree with the local rule as it currently stands as it’s a disadvantage to affected clubs.”

Bermuda surrendered a two-goal lead against Barbados, with the visiting side equalising in the 88th minute before grabbing an injury-time winner.

Lightbourne admitted Bermuda were guilty of “taking their foot off the gas” in the second half.

“I thought we played well in the first half, bossed the game and controlled it,” Lightbourne said. “But we became complacent and it gave them a little foot in the game.

“They got to grips with how we were playing and we never adjusted to them just kicking the ball and picking up the second ball.

“I thought we dealt with it until the last five minutes of the game, but they just kept coming and kept on coming.

“We just didn’t put away a couple of those chances in the first half to put the game beyond doubt.”