A delighted Keith Tucker hailed Bermuda's convincing display over St.Kitts and Nevis as a "special day" with it marking the first victory of his reign as national team coach.

Tucker admitted it was psychologically imperative his players secured a moral boosting win from the second match of their doubleheader against the Leeward Islanders, especially after setting the tone with three early goals.

Although St.Kitts clawed their way back by replying twice, Tucker's men stood firm with defensive duo Kevin Richards and Darius Cox coming in for praise following unyielding performances.

"You always want to get that first win out of the way when you're a new coach," said Tucker. "Now we've achieved that we can all move on and look towards the next challenge. It was important we won this game especially after starting so brightly.

"The way we defended as a team, applying constant pressure, posed them problems. We forced them to go over the top, bypassing their midfield, and I thought Darius Cox and (Kevin) Richards were incredible in the centre (of defence) for us.

"When we were under pressure they stood firm and it was St.Kitts' defence who made the errors and mistakes. We enforced that by never letting them settle.

"Our three midfielders pressurised St.Kitts whenever they had the ball. Our ploy was to breakdown their midfield and make them crack - I think we did that.

"We played the ball on the ground and didn't panic. Even when under pressure we kept our composure. But take nothing away from St.Kitts, they fought back from three goals down and are a good team."

Tucker shuffled his selection pack with collegiate players Antonio Lowe and Tyrell Burgess coming into the fold, along with keeper Nigel Burgess and goalscorers Aljame Zuill and Sammy DeGraff.

And the former Somerset Trojan believes the scrap is now on for the eleven starting jerseys as he plots Bermuda's passage past Cayman Islands in February's crunch World Cup qualifier.

"I was delighted with the players who came in and they've created a bit of competition for places - that's the key to our whole programme," he said. "If we can get the guys competing against each other it will raise the level of our play. Remember we still have a lot of players to comeback from injury.

"The technical committee will now look to organise some more friendly games and an overseas training camp where we can really put our heads together before we play Cayman Islands. If it all comes together we will be ready."