Kyle Lightbourne will be seeking to give the national squad?s fringe players a chance to shine tonight against the Dominican Republic with qualification for the next round of the Digicel Cup all but guaranteed.

Having watched his side steamroll the US Virgin Islands 6-0 on Wednesday night, the national coach knows they need only a draw this evening at the Lionel Roberts stadium in St. Thomas to claim top spot in the three-team group.

With the British Virgin Islands dropping out last week, each team was awarded three points as well as an automatic 3-0 victory at the outset of the tournament.

Bermuda, therefore, are now sitting pretty on six points with their final game to come and a healthy goal difference of plus six.

There does remain an extremely remote possibility that they could still not qualify for the second round which gets underway in November, but only if they lose heavily to the Dominican Republic this evening, who then go on to be badly beaten by USVI on Sunday night ? a nightmare scenario which in most observers? eyes has very little chance of coming true.

The expected changes to the starting eleven for tonight?s game are not all voluntary.

Captain Kentoine Jennings has been experiencing problems with his right ankle since he rolled it in a training session just prior to departure and was complaining of soreness in the aftermath of the USVI game ? despite having it heavily strapped.

Lightbourne revealed yesterday that either John Barry Nusum or Stanton Lewis would take over as skipper should the North Village centre back be unable to take his place at the heart of Bermuda?s defence.

Meanwhile, midfielder Steven Astwood felt some tightness in the lower hamstring of his right leg midway through the first half against USVI and will be a spectator this evening, as will winger Domico Coddington, who picked up a groin injury right at the end of the match having tormented the left full back all night with his pace and trickery.

?Obviously we want to top the group, but given that we?re essentially already through to the next stage, it doesn?t make any sense risking players who might not be 100 percent fit,? said Lightbourne yesterday over his morning coffee at the team hotel.

?We brought a 20-man squad down here and we want to try and get as many players as possible out on the park, even if it?s only for a short time. If we really needed to win the game then we would consider playing them, but as that?s not the case there really is very little to be gained by doing so.

?There?ll be some other changes we want to make. We?re thinking very seriously about letting Aljame Zuill start up front with John Barry Nusum, and we might make a couple of other changes at the back as well.

?We don?t know a huge amount about the Dominican Republic and given the way the schedule has been arranged we won?t have had a chance to watch them in action.

?We?re aware though that they will be a better side than USVI ? but we?re confident that we have the strength and depth in the squad to deal with them.?

Meanwhile, some of squad spent their day off yesterday relaxing with a round of golf on a nearby course, while others took the opportunity to lounge in the ocean for an hour or two before a very light training session in the early evening.

While the mood in the camp remains boisterous, concerns about the safety of the pitch continue to linger among both the players and the management.

At a meeting with the match commissioner and event sponsors Digicel on Monday evening, Bermuda manager Mark Trott, together with Lightbourne and assistant coach Paul Scope, made it clear that they were unhappy with the state of the stadium?s pitch.

They were assured at that time that the necessary improvements would be made ? improvements which were to include clearing away the hundreds of loose pebbles and rocks lying on the pitch and to cover the 40-yard wooden plank embedded into the ground along one of the touchlines in soil.

But when the teams arrived for the game on Wednesday evening, none of those changes had come to pass ? though Scope insisted yesterday they would not be mounting any further protest.

?It?s not particularly easy to control the ball for sure with it bouncing around all over the place, but our biggest concern is that it?s genuinely dangerous,? he said.

?There are great big rocks lying everywhere and nothing was done about that plank of wood sticking up out of the ground. But we had a long conversation about it on Monday and I?m not sure there?s very much else we can do. We?ve just got to live with it and hope that nobody gets hurt.?

Tonight?s game kicks off at 8 p.m..