Bermuda Select 2 Portland Hearts of Maine 3

Bermuda Select led Portland Hearts of Maine for the bulk of the match before the touring side scored three times in the second half to prevail at Flora Duffy Stadium on Thursday night.

Zeiko Lewis and Joshua Joseph’s well-taken strikes in the 22nd and 39th minutes were cancelled out by goals from Portland’s substitutes Tyler Huck, Titus Washington and Jay Tee Kamara.

Lewis was pleased with the team’s performance against opponents who dominated them a year ago.

“It was obviously not the result we wanted,” Lewis told The Royal Gazette.

“But at the end of the day, it was good minutes and much better than last year. It was a good performance from us overall and we showed good growth.

“We had our chances in the second half. It’s a game of inches, so you have to be able to capitalise on those moments.

“In the first half, we showed that we can play good football. We didn’t change anything but they changed the team so they had fresh legs.

“It was a good experience for a lot of the younger players. It was great that they get that type of experience and this is the minimum level they need to be at, they’re not going to get that every week on a Sunday.”

Lewis, who has been in good form for Social Club was pleased to have continued his good goalscoring form.

“I saw the opportunity, we were in a good position and we all stepped up,” he said.

“I told everybody else to come up with me and I got good information from the back. I saw the defender wasn’t protecting the ball properly so I nicked it.

“I had a feeling he was going to overcommit, so I knew that was my chance and the rest did itself.”

Bermuda assistant coach John Barry Nusum, who took charge of the team in the absence of Michael Findlay, was impressed by the fight shown by his players.

“I really took a lot of pride in the way that they applied themselves in the first half, making sure that we were hard to get through,” Nusum said.

“When we started off, we just wanted to make sure that we were hard to beat. For the first ten to 15 minutes, we made sure we were compact and we actually executed well in trying to get a counter-attack.

“The longer we stayed in the game, we started to get a comfortable flow. That’s what happened in the first half, we picked up the ball and started to play some good football.

“The second goal was unbelievable. It was probably about ten to 12 passes to then get a good finish on target.”

Nusum felt that the substitutions made by Portland at the break changed the complexion of the game.

“The truth is that they brought on a whole team in the second half,” he said.

“So they got fresh legs and our players were tired. The level of fitness is one of the biggest things that we have to always focus on, so we have to get our levels of fitness up.

“These guys come together in one week. Putting this together in one week is a tough job and they understood the assignment.”

Portland were the first to get a scoring chance in the fourth minute when Diego Rivera was put through by Ollie Wright, but Jahquil Hill made a superb save.

Once they settled into a good rhythm, the home team took control and Lewis struck a beauty to open the scoring after Portland gave the ball away in their box.

Joseph had the small crowd in awe as he connected with Zico Seymour’s cross, turned and placed the ball beyond Hunter Morse’s reach six minutes before the interval.

Huck, one of six changes made by Portland at half-time, headed in the first goal from a corner.

The away side completed their comeback with Kamara doing great work on the right, delivering the ball into the box for Washington to score.

Kamara, a thorn in the flesh of the Bermudian defenders with his dazzling runs down the right side after coming on, gave Portland the lead for the first time in the match with 15 minutes to go.

Hill initially made the save, but the ball fell at Kamara’s feet and he had all the time in the world to pick a spot and fire into the net.

The two teams meet in the final match of the Portland Bermuda tour at the same venue on Sunday (2pm).

SCORERS

Bermuda Select: Lewis 22, Joseph 39

Portland Hearts of Pine: Huck 50, Washington 62, Kamara 75

TEAMS

Bermuda Select (4-2-3-1): J Hill — L Simmons (sub: A Cannonier, 18min; sub: A Smith-Lightbourne, 79), J Dublin, A Astwood, Z Seymour (sub: R Woodley, 71) — M Trott (sub: K Browne, 60), L Outerbridge (sub: M Thomas, 79) — S Mitchell, Z Lewis, J Joseph (sub: D Thompson, 79) — E Darrell (sub: D Jones, 60). Substitutes not used: Q Hunt, T Place, K Symonds. Booked: Dublin

Portland Hearts of Pine starting XI (4-4-2): H Morse — M Mohamed, E Espinosa, B Evans, A Armour — M Lopez, K Hersi, M Wada, W Valera — O Wright, D Rivera.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica).