Crystal Palace Baltimore 3

Bermuda Hogges 0

Harrisburg City Islanders 4

Bermuda Hogges 2

If the Bermuda Hogges could get out of the habit of not throwing away games in the first 20 minutes then they might yet become a force to be reckoned with.

Their not terribly helpful ability to put themselves out of game before it has really begun has cost them on more than one occasion this season, and this weekend they were at it again.

It is hard to believe that a team of semi-professional footballers can make the same mistakes that a youth side might make, but of the seven goals in total that they conceded against Harrisburg City Islanders and Crystal Palace USA only one was not of their own making.

With the season nearly over the Hogges are making the same errors that they were at the start of it, the defending is unreliable, the midfield wafer thin, and the attack disjointed.

There seems to be a lack of comprehension of the basics of defending, and that, more than anything, means that the Hogges are unlikely to finish any better than ninth this year.

Of the three goals that Palace scored, all could, and probably should have been prevented.

Too often the defence has stood still while the ball is played through or around it, the full backs are often too narrow, caught chasing the ball and not the man, and there is a general lack of communication or understanding.

Timmy Figureido, the goalkeeper, must take some of the blame for this, as he does not control his area as well he might, but he seems to be lacking in confidence, and if he has no confidence in those in front of him, it makes the job twice as hard.

The side also fail to really impose themselves on the game, they are not hard enough, and too often are brushed off balls that they really should not lose. Larry Mark, the Palace midfielder, scored twice yesterday, hardly the biggest of players, he still had enough determination to beat Omar Shakir and Darius Cox to the ball.

Mark's goals came either side of a strike from Val Teixeira, the Palace skipper, and his second seven minutes from time completed a win in a game that the home side dominated from start to finish.

It wasn't until the final ten minutes that the Hogges forced a meaningful save from Brian Rowland, the Palace keeper, and by that time it hardly mattered.

While the Hogges failed to score against Palace, they did at least manage to find the back of the net twice against Harrisburg on Saturday and really should have had a third. But even then, the game had already been lost.

While it took Palace 18 minutes to break the deadlock, Harrisburg had scored twice in that time, and where about to grab a third. Three down inside 19 minutes, after a Nate Baker penalty and goals from Brett Weisner and Ryan Heins, the Hogges, not for the first time this season, gave themselves a mountain to climb.

Two minutes from half time the Islanders gifted the Hogges a goal with a terrible piece of defending at a corner allowing Nusum to jump unmolested and power a header past Ceperop, to at least give the scoreline some semblance of respectability.

Unfortunately for the Hogges and Nusum, that wasn't to be the striker's most significant contribution of the game.

Having had a less than impressive first half, the Hogges were somewhat better in the second, and a stunning 30-yard free kick from Shakir just on the hour, even gave them hope of pulling off a dramatic draw.

But from the highs of being back to within a goal, came the lows of being down to 10-men as Nusum was sent off for a mistimed tackle on Brian Ombiji, the Islanders' striker.

While rather inevitable, the sending off was still a little harsh. At this level the referees are not of the highest order, and once Nusum had slid in, missing the ball by no-more than a whisker, there was only ever likely to be one outcome.

More poor defending saw any hopes they had of salvaging a point vanish as Adam Clay was left unmarked at a corner to score his side's fourth.

Even then the Hogges had a chance to give the home side some nervy last few minutes, but even Keishan Bean missed a last minute penalty after Dill had been brought down inside the area by Geoff Bloes.

It would be wrong to suggest that all is lost for the Hogges, although this season might be as good as over, there is the nucleus of a good side there, and the manner in which they fought back against Harrisburg City Islanders suggests that they are not complete pushovers.

However, it might be time to look outside the Island to get some players for important positions. The Hogges need a good central defender, a good holding midfielder and a goalscorer.

Finding and getting these are two different things however, but in the off-season, which can surely now not come soon enough, they must be the priority.

Until that time the Hogges are likely to struggle against sides that are fitter, stronger, and more determined than the Hogges sometimes appear to be.