Head coach Michael Findlay was left bitterly disappointed after Bermuda missed out on promotion to the top tier of the Concacaf Nations League yesterday.

Heading into the crunch decider with French Guiana in Martinique, Bermuda's destiny was in their own hands as they topped League B group C by a point ahead of the home side.

With St Vincent & the Grenadines thrashing Belize 3-0 in the group’s other game, which was played simultaneously, a point would have proved enough for Findlay’s side to remain top of the group, but a first-half opener from Albert Ajaiso was added to by second-half goals from Loïc Baal and Joel Sarrucco as French Guiana soared to the summit to seal promotion to League A for the first time.

“Obviously, everybody, the players and staff are all hugely disappointed,” said Findlay, who admitted his youthful side failed to cope with the physical nature of the opposition.

“We put ourselves in a position to be playing for promotion and not achieving our primary objective is hard for all of us.

“We need to be smarter against the more physical sides. We had that required fight at times, but unfortunately we lost our way and got caught in a bit of a streetfight which we can’t afford to do.

“We have the technical ability to play through that, but that’s not an excuse by any means. We simply were not good enough and we know we are more than good enough to win that game.

“This has been a major learning curve for the squad and there are some important lessons to take forward. I’ve always said this process will be evolution and not revolution, so we will go away and continue to put in the work needed to grow as a group.”

After a tentative start French Guiana created the first opportunity in the 22nd minute as the lively Arnold Abelinti skipped past Danté Leverock on the right-hand side of the area, but could not beat Dale Eve from the tight angle.

Yohan Marmot lashed another opportunity harmlessly over Eve’s bar in the 28th minute after a flowing move, and French Guiana’s pressure finally told a minute later.

Eve failed to properly parry away Thomas Nemouthe’s driven effort, with Ajaiso reacting quickest to fire the loose ball in from close range.

Bermuda finally created a chance of their own in the closing stages of the first half, but Djair Parfitt-Williams could only lift his effort over the bar after a scooped pass into the area by Jai Bean.

French Guiana could have extended their lead in added time when Abelinti raced clear and curled his shot wide of the right upright with only Eve to beat, but they needed just two minutes of the second half to double their advantage.

With Bermuda’s defence seemingly content to let the ball go out of play for a corner, Marmot did brilliantly to keep it alive, crossing first time for Baal to head home at the back post.

Bermuda were forced to push forward in the hope of salvaging the game, and Abelinti continued to exploit the space behind the defence. Again he failed to capitalise on the hour mark, lashing over when well placed inside the area.

Findlay’s side tried in vain to get back into the match, with substitute Reggie Lambe and Parfitt-Williams both firing off target from outside the area, while Leverock somehow failed to convert the most glaring chance of all, shooting straight into the arms of Marvin Golitin from six yards out.

To compound matters, French Guiana inflicted one final blow three minutes into additional time. A long speculative punt forward by Golitin caused havoc inside Bermuda’s area, with Yvelin Nozile beating Harry Twite and the onrushing Eve to allow fellow substitute Joel Sarrucco to head home and seal promotion.

SCORERS

French Guiana: Ajaiso 29, Baal 49, Sarrucco 90+4

TEAMS

French Guiana (4-5-1): M Golitin 7 — M Colino 6, F Gaubert 7, A Ajaiso 7, J Legrand 6 — Loïc Baal 7 (sub: D Florentine, 81min), Z Charlec 6, Ludovic Baal 7, T Nemouthe 7 (sub: Y Nozile, 73), Y Marmot 8 — A Abelinti 8 (sub: J Sarrucco, 63 7). Substitutes not used: M Buisan, U Souza, M Haabo, R Atchaliso, J Haabo. Booked: Charlec, Marmot.

Bermuda (4-4-1-1): D Eve 6 — L Simmons 7 (sub: R Jones, 54 6), D Leverock 6, H Twite 6, J Butterfield-Steede 6 — J Donawa 6, K Martin 6 (sub: A Todd, 76), N Tucker 6 (sub: R Lee, 53 6), D Parfitt-Williams 6 — K Crichlow 6 (sub: R Lambe, 53 6) — J Bean 6 (sub: K Scott, 67 6). Substitutes not used: D Bell, A Kempe, R Coddington, L Robinson. Booked: Todd.

Referee: J Torres (Puerto Rico).