(abandoned after 47 mins, floodlight failure) The International Youth Tournament got off to an inauspicious start last night when Bermuda's opening game against the US was abandoned two minutes into the second half after a floodlight failure at BAA Field.

The under 17 national squad had just fallen behind to a Todd Brown goal when a bank of newly-installed lights on one side of the ground went out.

Spectators were left sitting in the dark for fully 40 minutes awaiting a Belco engineer who was unable to repair the lamps in time to allow the game to restart. It will now be replayed on Tuesday, a situation which leaves both teams facing three matches in successive evenings.

Organiser Jon Beard reflected glumly: "It's been a great evening but it's a thing that's endemic to clubs on the Island. They're working with anitiquated equipment and they haven't got the finances to fix it.'' But he disclosed: "That was a new bank of lights installed last week. Belco tested them on Friday and they all worked well.'' It's the kind of thing that could reflect badly on the event but rival coaches Gwynne Williams, of the US, and Bermuda's Mark Trott were philosophical.

Williams, who used to coach soccer on the Island himself, said: "Unfortunately, these things happen -- you've just got to roll with the punches. It was the same for both teams.'' Trott added: "I just think it's a shame for the organisers, who've put in a lot of time and effort. "I hope it doesn't have a negative effect on the tournament.'' Trott was more concerned that his side had not played to their full potential.

But he is a hard taskmaster and it was only a moment of sloppiness that saw them go one down.

Until then, Bermuda had more than matched their opponents.

Tall strikers Shakai Minors and Mackie Crane had combined well and skipper Marlon Dill's pace down the right flank kept the US rearguard occupied.

Dill, in fact, almost caught out American goalkeeper Alex Maslow in the 20th minute with an impudent free-kick on the right. With everybody expecting a cross, Dill unleashed a curving shot with the outside of his right foot which had Maslow grasping.

Five minutes later, Dill took advantage of a mistake in the US box, but his powerful left foot effort was brilliantly stopped by Maslow.

Within moments a probing run by the US's Bradley Reed led to a neat exchange of passes between Jake Jackson and Justin Moose with Jackson getting a final touch beyond Bermuda keeper Zane Hendrickson. But with the ball trickling towards the empty net, Nadir Wade raced back to hack off the line.

Trott was forced to pull of his twin strike pairing at half time because of injury and illness, throwing on Jamari Furbert and Omar Ray, but within seconds of the restart they were behind, nobody picking up Brown's dart to the near post where he side-footed home.

Trott said: "I had just told the team when you're not playing to your full potential you have to put your chances away. Then we went to sleep. We got a very valuable lesson. Perhaps it was divine intervention, but I can promise you will see a totally different team tonight. I won't be afraid to make changes.'' Williams, meanwhile, was happy enough with the US showing, revealing that many of the side had flown in overnight and had not slept. "We've brought a very young side, they're an under 15 team, but they can play a little. But they're here for the exposure. Even what happened tonight with the lights is a learning experience for them.''