Bermuda bravely bowed out of the Concacaf Caribbean Women’s Under-20 Qualifiers last night, losing 2-1 to Jamaica at the National Stadium.

The home side required a victory to advance to the regional finals in St Kitts and Nevis in November but fell just short of achieving their ambition.

Both teams won their opening group B games against Curaçao last week — Bermuda 5-1 and Jamaica 10-0 — to set up a do-or-die affair in front a crowd of more than 2,000 spectators last night.

Bermuda fell behind early on after a strike from Ebony Clarke but equalised on the hour mark when Deshae Darrell found the bottom corner.

Jamaica, however, were back in the ascendancy five minutes later when Clarke bagged her second of the game.

“Jamaica are always a tough opponent for us and each time we play them we get better,” Denkins said. “We gave as good as we got tonight and the girls worked extremely hard and did everything that was asked of them. I think Jamaica were surprised by us and we fought to the end.”

Denkins admitted that Bermuda conceded at the worse possible times, particularly the second goal, having worked so hard to drag themselves level.

“Football’s a cruel sport and they were untimely goals,” he added. “Football will do that to you.”

Eva Frazzoni, the Bermuda captain, may have lost the struggle to hold back tears after the final whistle. But she and her team-mates were left in no doubt that they had won the hearts of the fans who packed into the main stand at the National Stadium.

“We left everything out there and we really thought it was our time,” the midfielder said. “It’s really hard to not make it through.

“These tears on my face have everything to do with the result because I know my girls deserve it. I’m so proud of each and every one of them.

“We’ve gone down to Jamaica pretty tough in the past, but we’ve always fought hard against them. We’re looking forward to the day we come out on top.”

Emily Caza, the Jamaica captain, admits that her side were caught off guard by Bermuda’s quality.

“We always felt confident of achieving our goal,” she said. “We knew if we worked hard we would have enough to win, although I’ll admit we maybe underestimated Bermuda a bit.

“The early goal took the pressure off but we were still frantic at the beginning because of the competition they gave us.”