Zeiko Lewis, the Charleston Battery forward, is relishing today’s clash with his former club New York Red Bulls II in the United Soccer League Championship.

Lewis and his team-mates will host their Eastern Conference rivals at MUSC Health Stadium where they will be keen to bounce back from a 3-2 loss away to Ottawa Fury in their previous outing.

“It is always a great feeling to play against old team-mates,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the task ahead and my team is ready to step up to the battle.”

Charleston, who are eighth in the standings, five places below today’s opponents, saw their three-game unbeaten streak halted with Wednesday’s loss to Ottawa at TD Place Stadium in which Lewis netted in his first club appearance since returning from national duty in the Concacaf Gold Cup after coming on as a late substitute.

The 25-year-old, who featured in all three of Bermuda’s Gold Cup matches against Haiti, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, converted with a tight-finish at the near post.

“It was nice to hit the target and much needed,” said Lewis, who scored his fifth goal of the season. “I’m just trying to learn from my errors of where I was not converting before; trying to strive forward to help my team anyway that I can and improve all aspects of my game as I move forward.”

Bermuda finished third in group B to miss out on advancing to the quarter-finals, following 2-1 losses to Haiti and Costa Rica before beating Nicaragua 2-0.

Lewis believes he and his Bermuda team-mates will learn from the experience and come back stronger.

“We were unfortunate but it was definitely a learning curve and we will be back for more next time,” he said. “We will be back stronger than before.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, a bit of luck and learning from your failures.”

?Danté Leverock and his Sligo Rovers team-mates suffered a 2-0 defeat away to bottom side Finn Harps in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division at Finn Park last night.

The home side prevailed courtesy of a Nathan Boyle brace either side of the interval.

Leverock, the Bermuda captain, was booked for obstruction in the first half and went close to grabbing an equaliser before Boyle increased his team’s advantage in the closing stages.