Reggie Lambe will not be called upon for Bermuda’s international friendly match at home to Barbados next month.

The Bermuda Football Association have opted against bringing the in-form midfielder back for the game to allow him to focus on his club form for Sky Bet League Two side Carlisle United.

“Reggie plays football for a living and while this is a friendly and we do take it seriously, we don’t want to interrupt his club season,” said Maurice Lowe, the Bermuda Football Association development director.

“The match is not in a Fifa window or is an official competition, and so we feel it’s best to leave him to focus on his club career at this time.”

Lambe is in the midst of a superb start to the season, notching his fourth goal of the campaign in Carlisle’s 5-0 drubbing of Crewe Alexandra last weekend.

“He’s in a purple patch right now and scoring a lot of goals and so we want to avoid interrupting that as much as we can,” Lowe added.

Lowe said Bermuda’s preparations are well under way.

“The match is not during a Fifa window and the college players are in season as well so the majority of the make-up of this team will be local based,” the former Dandy Town defender said.

“We had a player meeting last weekend and have started training sessions.

“The season has just started and all of the players have been training heavily with their clubs, so we are not trying to exhaust them and are revving up our preparations as the day draws nearer.”

The match, to be played on October 28, will be the first since Andrew Bascome stepped down as head coach, with Kyle Lightbourne taking over the coaching duties on a caretaker basis.

Edwyn Wood, the Barbados Football Association general secretary, is confident the visiting side will be equal to the task against Bermuda.

“Based on our preparations and the length of time we have been training we expect that the players will do well,” Wood told The Royal Gazette.

“The team has been in training for quite a while and has had a few friendlies so preparations are going good.

“Bermuda have got some pretty good results recently so we are not taking anything for granted. We expect to have a tough challenge but we also anticipate the team will do well against Bermuda.” Barbados’s youthful squad will include semi-professional and college players based in the United States.

“We have no professionals for this one,” Wood said. “Our team is relatively young, the average age is around 22-23 mixed with one or two fellows that have some good experience. But quite a few of them are very skilful and have been together as a unit for a reasonably long time.”

Bermuda are scheduled to face Barbados away next year as part of a home-and-home arrangement between the two associations.