Bermuda's hopes of a place in the next qualifying series of the Youth World Cup suffered a major blow last night when the Under-17 national team slumped to a surprise defeat at the hands of the Netherlands Antilles in their second match in Trinidad.

Having crushed hosts Trinidad 3-0 on Wednesday night, Bermuda had been expected to defeat the Netherlands Antilles comfortably.

But they were sent crashing by a goal midway through the second half in a game in which they were never able to duplicate Wednesday night's form, particularly in front of goal.

"We had our destiny in our own hands, now we need the help of others in order to pull it off,'' said a disappointed BFA general secretary David Sabir after last night's defeat.

But Sabir noted that all was not lost as Bermuda were now tied at the head of the qualifying table with Barbados who they meet tomorrow at 3.00 p.m.

The two teams have a goal difference of plus two while Trinidad and Tobago, in third with a goal difference of minus one, are still in the hunt while the Netherlands have a difference of minus four. All four teams are tied on points.

"A clear victory by Bermuda would give us a good chance to advance, but then we will have to see what Trinidad and the Netherlands do in their match-up which follows ours at 5.00 p.m.,'' explained Sabir.

"Whichever way you look at the situation, the stage is set for an interesting final day. We are all hopeful that things will favour us in the end, but we shall see.'' Bermuda blew easy scoring chances in the first half last night and they should have taken the lead by the interval.

After 18 minutes Omar Ray missed a sitter from 10 yards when he completely miskicked the ball, and 10 minutes later Jabari Furbert, the two-goal hero on Wednesday night, blundered when he miskicked from close range after getting on the end of a cross from Tarik Jennings.

Jennings had raced down the right flank where he dribbled by three defenders before sending a defence-splitting cross that Furbert should have applied the finishing touches to with ease.

"It was a sub-par performance by the team. The Netherlands played with a lot of aggression but they were not able to dominate us at any stage,'' added Sabir. "Our fellows just didn't play with the same urgency that we showed against Trinidad and Tobago.

"There is certainly a great degree of disappointment among the squad and team officials but we are all aware that we are still in the thick of this race and we can do nothing but regroup and hope for the best on Sunday.'' The Netherlands, emphatically beaten 5-2 by Barbados in their opening game on Wednesday, had not been expected to cause Bermuda too much trouble.

But in the end their single goal proved more than enough.

The group's eventual top team will earn the right to move on to the next qualifying round in El Salvador early in the New Year.