Bermuda?s national football team put on a brave performance against the visiting New England Revolution at the National Sports Centre (NSC) on Tuesday ? one that even surpassed the expectations of interim coach Kenny Thompson.

The local team held their professional opponents ? who made ten changes at the half ? at bay for two thirds of the match, before fatigue eventually set in and mental lapses proved their undoing.

Bermuda?s defence absorbed waves of pressure and their forwards were able to capitalise on their only real scoring opportunity for the entire 90 minutes. And their efforts did not go unnoticed by Rev?s assistant coach Paul Mariner who said afterwards: ?I think Bermuda have some very good talent.?

Even Thompson himself seemed pleased after the final whistle had blown, despite his team coming out on the short end of the stick. ?We certainly made life very difficult for them. And in a way I was pleased to see that they were hitting a lot of long balls. That was pleasing for us because it showed that were compact enough not to allow them to penetrate along the ground and through the middle,? he said.

?The first long ball caught us out and after that I thought we handled the long balls very well.?

The home team also had ?keeper Timmy Figuerido and his supporting cast in defence to thank as they all made a good account of themselves ? while in the middle Chae Simmons, Keith Jennings and Jahmah Samuels worked tirelessly.

Bermuda stunned the visitors by snatching the lead in the 11th minute against the run of play ? Jennings firing in a Stephen Astwood rebound ? before going on to soak up enormous New England pressure.

But they eventually came undone at the seams when the visitors equalised via a clearance that was deflected across the line off the body of Jennings.

But Bermuda continued to defend well in the second half against an entirely new Revs line-up, but eventually ran out of gas down the stretch, while a series of substitutions also altered the local team?s chemistry.

New England went ahead for good in the 75th minute through Andrew Doorman and then put the result beyond a doubt two minutes later when Jorge Ramirez fired home from close range. Even Thompson admitted afterwards that fitness played a key factor in his team?s defeat.

?In the end I thought that fitness certainly played a part in that we tired near the end. And certainly when you make a lot of changes ? and we wanted to give everybody a game ? it sort of disrupts things a little bit. So near the end we were a bit disorganised than during the earlier parts of the match,? said Thompson, who unveiled a new-look squad.

Mariner, meanwhile, believes Bermuda have the potential to improve.

?If they can get their fitness level up, their technique will be able to improve as well,? he added.

Bermuda?s national team will get another opportunity to try and impress when they take a David Beckham-less LA Galaxy tomorrow night (7.30 p.m.) at the Sports Centre.

The Revs lock horns tonight at the NSC with MLS rivals Galaxy ? who watched Tuesday?s match from the stands ? in what will be a repeat of the 2005 MLS final.