Bermuda women’s head coach Naquita Robinson praised her side’s endeavour despite a 4-0 loss to Jamaica in their Concacaf Women’s Qualifier match.

Bermuda were second-best throughout the contest, in spite of tactical discipline shown by the players, who kept their shape in a 4-1-4-1 formation set by Robinson. Jamaica came under no real threat from them throughout the match, as they had no shots on target, but Robinson said her players did their best.

“We came to play, we came to fight, with a game plan, and it worked,” Robinson said in the post-game press conference.

“Our strategy was to not allow Jamaica to play through us. The plan was to send them outside, and once we did, to try to win the ball, and if not win it, keep them out there.

“It worked for the better part of the game but as we fatigued a bit, Jamaica were able to get in behind us.”

Jamaica head coach Vin Blaine, however, says they did not play to their full capacity as the aim on the night was to take the game easily and enjoy themselves.

Bermuda came under pressure from as early as the eleventh minute. Jamaica’s Jody Brown played a dangerous ball inside to Trudi Carter, who made her way to the edge of the area and her strike rattled the underside of the bar and out.

The resulting rebound, from Khadija Shaw, also came back off the bar, keeping the teams level.

Bermuda’s luck ran out in the 21st minute.

Good interplay between Shaw and Carter down the left of Bermuda’s area resulted in a shot from the former, which was saved but goalkeeper Micah Pond then fumbled as she attempted to gather the ball.Brown was on hand to put Jamaica ahead 1-0.

It was almost 2-0 in the 26th minute when Pond flapped at a cross from down the left side and the ball fell loose to Shaw.

Her shot was, however, cleared off the line by Bermuda captain Eva Frazzoni.

Pond’s poor night in goal continued. In the 30th minute, she missed yet another cross from down the left, this time by Shaw.

Her mistimed attempt at the ball led to Brown collecting on the other side.

Brown played a pass to the centre of the box to Carter, who was waiting about six yards out. Pond was soundly beaten by Carter’s shot as the hosts went 2-0 up in the 30th minute.

Although they still created no chances, Bermuda seemed to find more composure in the second half.

The hosts continued to come forward but found it a little more difficult to get shots off in the final third.

Bermuda were fortunate in the 70th minute as Shaw advanced into a through pass down the line and skipped by centre back Victoria Davis.

Pond charged out to prevent Shaw getting a shot off and the Jamaican went down in the process. Guatemalan referee Astrid Gramajo surprisingly waved away appeals for a penalty.

Midfielder Jaden Masters was forced off with an injury in the 72nd minute after a hard collision for a ball with Shaw.

After not calling the penalty earlier, Gramajo further ticked off Shaw, booking her for the challenge.

However, that seemed to only fire her up as she extended the host’s lead to 3-0 in the 80th minute.

The goal came after Jamaica’s Allyson Swaby played a ball in from Bermuda’s right side, which produced a shot by Kalyssa van Zanten, forcing a save out of Pond.

The ball then fell to Shaw, just six yards out, and she rifled the rebound into the roof of the net.

Pond was forced to pick the ball out of her net for a fourth time on the night. Shaw collected a pass on Bermuda’s left side of the box, from Tierney Wiltshire, before calmly turning inside to shoot with her left foot in the third minute of stoppage time.

Robinson admitted Pond was not at her best on the night but was sympathetic towards her.

“We told her at half-time to have a short memory, to shake it off,” she said. “Believe it or not, our No 1 goalkeeper is in college, playing on the field.

“She has not had a whole lot of goalkeeper training or spent a lot of time in the net, so those mistakes, we understand, will happen.

“But she was able to have a short memory and she knows what went wrong and we can guarantee that won’t happen again.”

Bermuda now turn their attention to their next game in the competition, at home to the Cayman Islands on Tuesday.

SCORERS

Jamaica: Brown 21, Carter 30, Shaw 80, 93

TEAMS

Jamaica (4-3-3): R Spencer — C Swaby, A Swaby, S Campbell, D Bond Flasza (sub: T Wiltshire, 84) — C Asher, K McCoy (sub: V Sampson 89), T Carter (sub: K van Zanten 64) — J Brown (sub: M Grey 64), K Shaw, O Adamolekun (sub: M Dayes 89). Substitutes not used: S Schneider, Y Jamieson, L McFadden, A Keene, G Gayle, T Cameron. Booked: Shaw

Bermuda (4-1-4-1): M Pond — K Goodchild (sub: S Lowe, 84), V Davis, J Rempel, D Watson (sub: K Dill 57) — K Burch — E Frazzoni, L Nesbeth J Masters (sub: M Christian 72), N Christian — A Nolan (sub J Ratteray Smith 72) . Substitutes not used: Z Turner, T Trott, D Ebbin, T Edwards, E Cabral, K Brangman, K Mederlos. Booked: Watson

Referee: Astrid Gramajo (Guatemala).