Kyle Lightbourne made the best possible start to life as a manager with a 2-1 Digicel Cup victory over Cayman.

Overcoming the disruption of losing Shaun Goater and Antwon Russell in the 24 hours before leaving for the three-match competition in St. Vincent, goals from Khano Smith and Clevon Hill helped Bermuda to the narrow victory in the opening game of the five-day tournament at a muddy Arnos Vale Playing Field.

Two-up at the break, Lightbourne?s men withstood a second-half fightback from a physical Caribbean side who were reduced to ten men for the final 15 minutes.

But with better finishing, and with a little luck, Bermuda could have won more easily. With John Barry Nusum, looking at his powerful best, unlucky to have a goal ruled out by the referee for off-side in the second half even though the linesman didn?t flag for it.

?Yup, I?m delighted with the win,? said Lightbourne, who admitted that his squad for the Group E clash could have been stronger had it not been for injuries and players not training.

?The guys did plenty well out there. There has been a lot of rain and the pitch was very heavy, so there are a lot of tired legs. We were two goals up at the break and I warned the guys to expect a bit of an onslaught but they got through it.

?I was happy with the performance but there were also plenty of things we saw that we can talk about and work through before the next game.?

Smith?s strike from outside the box after just three minutes eased Lightbourne into soccer management and it was another Smith strike that led to the second.

Ten minutes before the break, Smith , who may not have started had Goater made the trip, unleashed a 30-yard drive that was too hot to handle and Hill stepped up to nick the rebound over the prone keeper.

Just there minutes after the break, Cayman pulled one back ? although Lightbourne is convinced Robert Wilson, one of three centre-backs playing under the wing back formation, was fouled in the build-up.

A high challenge on Blenn Bean in the latter stages brought about a second yellow for a Cayman player and the ten-man opposition couldn?t get the equaliser they strived for as Bermuda held firm.

Of slight concern to Lightbourne, however, were knocks to Hill and Nusum, both of whom were replaced, but the coach is confident they will recover in time for tomorrow?s vital game against St. Vincent.

Another pleasing aspect for Lightbourne was the performance of Jemeiko Jennings, who only arrived on the morning of the game.

The North Village striker, along with Marvin Belboda, flew out on Tuesday after the late withdrawals of Goater and Russell, and put in a strong 20 minutes as replacement for Hill.

?I was very happy with Jemeiko,? continued Lightbourne.

?He played very well when he came on and did what we asked of him. I am not too worried about Clevon and John, they weren?t serious knocks.

?The whole team are tired after playing on that heavy pitch so we are going to limit them to swimming and very light training before the next game.

?I want to keep them off their feet as much as possible.?

And Bermuda received a massive boost ahead of their fixture tomorrow against St. Vincent, a match that was originally expected to settle the group, as the hosts could only manage a 1-1 draw with British Virgin Islands.

The BVI team, under the tutelage of a British coach, barely resembled the side hammered home and away by Bermuda in World Cup qualifying four years ago and may prove to be the tournament?s dark horses.

Goater, who pulled out of the squad due to injuries at Reading, came through 75 minutes for the reserves in his first competitive match for nearly a month after suffering a recurrence of a calf injury that kept him out of Bermuda?s World Cup campaign against El Salvador.

The striker, who may yet feature for Lightbourne in later rounds of the Digicel Cup, is likely to start for the Royals on Saturday against Wigan.