All things considered it hasn’t been a bad week for Bermuda sport.

The Hogges broke their duck in the United Soccer League, registering their first win of what up until then had been an inauspicious inaugural season, golfer Michael Sims picked up his biggest pay cheque after his highest finish on the Nationwide Tour, boxer Teresa Perozzi earned another victory in the ring, and more than 100 athletes representing one of Bermuda’s largest squads ever to compete overseas jetted out to the Island Games in Greece where in many of the disciplines they will be considered medal favourites.

It continues to amaze how a country with a population no bigger than a small town in the US or Britain persistently makes its mark on the international stage . . . and still finds its top sportsmen and women subject to a tongue-lashing whenever they fail to deliver (probably no more so than in this very column).

Yet it doesn’t do us any harm to remind ourselves now and then that the gap between sport played domestically and that contested elsewhere more often than not is at a different level.

Nobody will have discovered that more than those pulling on the Hogges shirt this season in the second division of a football league that barely warrants a mention among media in the US.

Yet our introduction into this league and the slew of early season defeats suffered before Monday night’s ground-breaking victory over the New Hampshire Phantoms might have been the best thing to happen to local football in recent years.

Team owners Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne apart, few in the Hogges line-up have been consistently exposed to the rigours and demands of pro ball.

And while the Goat and Killer both played a significant role in Monday’s win, as they stayed on the park for the entire 90 minutes with the former Manchester City hero bagging both goals, what remains clear is that the organisation won’t be able to rely on their ageing legs for too much longer.

One suspects their plan to eventually bring in overseas players to bolster the squad will come sooner than later. Even with Goater and Lightbourne’s presence, the side could use another experienced marksman, a midfield ball-winner and another no-nonsense defender, although the introduction of Shaun Simmons at the back on Monday made an immediate impact.

And rather than local fans seeing the importation of overseas players as a threat to the development of Island players, they should see it as a chance to enhance the standard even more, much in the same way as current Hogges members must be learning from playing alongside Goater and Lightbourne.

Finally, one other factor will help the side’s progress — the support of fans.

Many of those who have long called for Bermuda to be involved in the game at a semi-pro level have so far been conspicuous by their absence.

The players and coaches have insisted the 500 or so present at the NSC on Monday night played a big part in the final outcome.

Three times that number regularly turn out for domestic games. The Hogges deserve similar encouragement.

After their first win, hopefully they’ll get it.

LIKE the Hogges, Michael Sims probably quite wasn’t sure what he was getting into when he graduated from the mini-tours to the highly-competitive Nationwide Tour early this year.

And even with his abundance of talent, he’s quickly discovered there’s no substitute for hard work.

Some of that graft began to pay off last week with a 14th-place finish at the Knocksville Open after making the cut for only the third time this season.

What was particularly encouraging was his ability to post four sub-par rounds, an almost pre-requisite to making a profitable career at this level.

Now if he could just eliminate those big numbers (double bogeys and worse) which have become a frustrating feature on so many of his scorecards, then we might see Sims’ full potential come to the fore.