Bermuda 5 Cayman Islands 0

Bermuda head into their final Fifa World Cup second round qualifying match against Cuba on Tuesday with something to play for after despatching Cayman Islands at Flora Duffy Stadium last night.

Zeiko Lewis opened the scoring with a twelfth-minute penalty on his 31st birthday. His first-half strike was followed by four second-half goals from Djair Parfitt, Kole Hall, Reggie Lambe and a first international goal for defender Julian Carpenter five minutes before the end.

Bermuda v Cayman picture gallery

The win lifted Michael Findlay’s side up to second in group A with four points. Victory in Cuba on Tuesday would secure second position for Bermuda and a spot in the third round of the qualifiers.

Findlay, who presided over one of Bermuda’s biggest wins since he became coach in August 2023, is delighted that the Gombey Warriors have something to play for when they take to the field in Santiago de Cuba.

“At the end of the day, it’s about being able to say that next Tuesday we’re playing a game and it means something,” the coach told The Royal Gazette.

“That’s been our goal from Day 1, playing meaningful games. The way the structure is in Concacaf now, it’s all competition, you’re not getting opportunities to run players through.

“We’re playing in a meaningful game that might put us through to round three of World Cup qualifying, which is historic for Bermuda football.”

Bermuda endured some anxious moments in the first half against a Cayman side that looked to pounce on the break.

“I think we knew from the beginning that it was going to be a little bit of a frustrating initial phase because we hadn't been together for a bit,” Findlay said.

“We also knew that Cayman were going to try and frustrate us to begin with, they were lying in a low block.

“We’re really happy that we got the first goal that settled us and then we made a couple of changes at half-time in terms of how we were going to put it into shape. You could see the difference when we did that, we got two players closer to the front.

“Once we got the second goal, we felt that the energy levels were going to be a little bit higher than those of Cayman. We’re incredibly happy, it’s always great when we score goals because we struggle with that part of our game.”

Deniche Hill, back in the Bermuda squad for the first time since September 2023, won the home side a penalty when he was impeded by Christopher Reeves. Lewis sent Lachlin Lambert the wrong way to open the scoring.

Lambert was called into action in the 26th minute to deny Reese Jones after the right back made a brilliant run and took a shot at goal.

Four minutes before the break, Hill laid the ball to Ne-Jai Tucker, whose effort from outside the box was saved by Lambert.

Parfitt doubled Bermuda’s advantage nine minutes after the restart. Willie Clemons, arguably the man of the match, released Lewis, who laid the ball perfectly for the FC Haka winger to nudge it over the line.

Ten minutes later, Parfitt provided the assist for Hall to turn and brilliantly shoot with his left foot to score Bermuda's third of the night.

Substitute Lambe then tucked the ball home from a Tucker corner before Carpenter thumped the ball into the net from a rebound after Lambert denied substitute Rahzir Smith-Jones.

Carpenter was thrilled to score his first goal in Bermuda colours and also contribute to keeping a clean sheet.

“It’s really nice to score my first international goal,” the Paget defender said.

“I don’t score that often so I didn’t even know how to celebrate. I just gambled on the rebound and it paid off.

“Three games, one goal and a clean sheet, and it feels nice to win. Hopefully, we get a win against Cuba and get through to the next round of World Cup qualifying.”

SCORERS

Bermuda: Lewis 12 pen, Parfitt 54, Hall 64, Lambe 79, Carpenter 85

TEAMS

Bermuda (4-1-4-1): D Eve — R Jones Jr, H Twite, J Carpenter, D Hill (sub: J Butterfield-Steede, 60 min) — W Clemons — K Martin (sub: R Lambe, 73), N Tucker, D Parfitt-Williams (sub: S Ming, 66), Z Lewis (sub: R Jones, 66) — K Hall (sub: E Russell, 72). Substitutes not used: D Bell, R Lee, A Todd, K Richardson, E Blankendal, J Dublin, C Fubler.

Cayman Islands (4-2-3-1): L Lambert — J Alexander, C Gray, D Rowe, Jabari Campbell — J Bonilla, S Martinez (sub: M Suberan, 73) — E Seymour (sub: Joshwa Campbell, 73), Z Scott (sub: D Douglas, 83), C Reeves — M Duval (sub: T Beckford, 83). Substitutes not used: D Whittaker, J Tugman, K Foster, W Robinson. Booked: Jabari Campbell, Gray, Suberan.

Referee: R Vasquez (United States).