Kyle Lightbourne's tenure at the helm of Bermuda's national football team has come to a grinding halt.

Bermuda Football Association (BFA) announced last night that the 38-year-old, former Coventry City striker's contract, which expired upon Bermuda's ousting from the Digicel Cup earlier this month, will not be renewed.

Lightbourne succeeded Kenny Thompson as national coach in September 2004. And his time in the post was anything but a smooth one as his first match on home soil against Brazilian side Santos was overshadowed by a national team drug test fiasco involving three players from Devonshire Cougars who were all subsequently banned.

This followed a controversial baptism in the Digicel Cup when the Island's appeal over the eligibility of several British Virgin Island players ? after the Caribbean side's 2-0 win over Bermuda ? fell on deaf ears.

Bermuda's national team then suffered the humiliation of being slaughtered 7-0 by Manchester City's Youth Academy at the National Sports Centre.

But on a brighter note, Lightbourne carried Bermuda up the FIFA rankings from 160 to as high as 107, and earlier this month just missed out on coaching the team to the Digicel Caribbean Cup finals in Trinidad and Tobago.

Bermuda lost to eventual champions Haiti 5-0 on aggregate in a playoff to decide the eighth and final berth in the finals ? thus ending Lightbourne's watch on a losing note.

"The BFA is extremely grateful to Kyle for all his efforts as coach of the team," a BFA press statement read.

"He took over the programme shortly after we were eliminated from the World Cup campaign in 2004 and since then has worked with the best players in Bermuda.

"We also extend our sincere thanks to Kyle's coaching staff Paul Scope (assistant coach) and Gary Ray (equipment manager). We recognise that they have provided invaluable support to Kyle and the team, and we are sincerely thankful to them.

When contacted last night, a sombre Lightbourne stated: "I am disappointed not to have been given a longer opportunity because we did all what we done without any real budget.

"We never had any real warm-up games and always went into competitions cold. But given the BFA's financial situation we couldn't have any warm-up games. So given what we had to work with I feel we done a more than capable job."

Another hurdle Lightbourne encountered was encouraging players to train with the national team.

"In the beginning we weren't getting the proper response from players and it was also frustrating that the Association could never put on a match domestically," he said.

"This is not a criticism of the BFA in any way. But all the matches we did have in Bermuda were put on by someone else."

Lightbourne's only assignments at home were against Santos, New England Revolution and Manchester City's Youth Academy ? all matches that ended in defeat ? while Bermuda's victories under his watch came against the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Dominican Republic and US Virgin Islands.

"I felt we were making progress. And again I am disappointed that I wasn't given a longer opportunity," Lightbourne said.

"But I still believe we did the best with what we had to work with."

Lightbourne said he now intends to see out the season with Premier Division side PHC Zebras before re-evaluating his position at the club, while placing even more emphasis on his involvement with the Island's first United Soccer League (USL) side, Bermuda Hogges.