Coach Kyle Lightbourne watched from the stands yesterday as Bermuda staged a remarkable second half fightback to all but guarantee a place in the next round of the Digicel Cup.

Two goals down with just eight minutes left, Bermuda sensationally hit back as a header from Maurice Lowe and Damon Ming?s injury-time penalty earned Lightbourne?s men an unlikely draw against the hosts that puts them within a point of qualification.

A complacent St. Vincent side, cruising at 3-1 up and thinking that victory was in the bag, made the crucial mistake of taking off their best player in the 80th minute, presumably to rest him ahead of tomorrow?s final round of matches.

The shout went out from assistant coach Paul Scope ? in charge of the bench after Lightbourne was banished to the stands after just four minutes ? that the home side ?think they?ve won, let?s teach them a lesson.?

This inspired Bermuda to rein in their opponents, placed 13 places higher in FIFA?s world rankings, and they very nearly went on to grab the win.

?The boys showed a lot of heart out there,? said Scope, his voice hoarse from 86 minutes of barking instructions to the Island troops.

?We never gave up hope and when they took off their best player, that was our chance. It wasn?t our best performance by any means but the boys battled hard and, as you can imagine, everyone is delighted with the result.

?It was a hard, hard game and when the whistle went a lot of the boys just collapsed in the mud ? we have a few walking wounded and training is going to have to be very light before the last game.?

Bermuda took to the field with three changes from Wednesday?s 2-1 victory over Cayman with Kentoine Jennings coming into the line-up after suspension with Robert Wilson moving from defence to wing back and Ming starting on the bench. Jemeiko Jennings started for Clevon Hill while Aljame Zuill replaced John Barry Nusum in attack.

Lightbourne may have had the best possible start to his managerial career on Wednesday with a Khano Smith goal after just three minutes but he experienced the flipside yesterday in the fourth minute.

St. Vincent took the lead and the absence of what Lightbourne saw as an obvious need for the linesman to raise his flag for offside led to the former pro shouting out his opinion.

It was a little too vocal, however, for the man in charge and the referee marched over and consigned Lightbourne to the stands ? although whether or not he has to remain there for tomorrow?s game is unknown.

Bermuda struggled to contend with the hosts, particularly on the right side, throughout the remainder of the half with goalkeeper Timmy Figureido forced into action on a number of occasions.

But with only three minutes to go before the break, Bermuda were given an indirect free kick just eight yards out when the St. Vincent keeper handled a back pass.

The ball was touched to Khano Smith, who drilled the ball under the wall for an equaliser against the run of play.

In the second half, the hosts once again directed all their attacks down the left and pulled ahead with Bermuda temporarily reduced to ten men.

Smith was on the receiving end of a clattering challenge and while he was receiving treatment on the sidelines, St. Vincent took the lead.

And in a further body blow to Lightbourne?s men, within two minutes of substitute Marvin Belboda taking the field, they scored again to leave Bermuda injured, tired and floundering as the torrential rain poured down.

But once St. Vincent took off their key man, the comeback was inspired with Bermuda pouring forward at every opportunity.

Lowe, playing in only his second game for the national side, knocked in a header from a corner in the 82nd minute but the elusive equaliser was proving hard to come by despite a number of opportunities.

In injury time, a goalmouth scramble saw Jemeiko Jennings force the ball home but the referee had already blown and the penalty was awarded instead.

Ming, by now on as a substitute, stepped up to the fore and fired home to secure a point with just seconds left.

?We still need a result against BVI,? added Scope with a cautionary note.

?It was a great point for us and now we need to regroup for that last game. We have a few walking wounded so we will have to see who is available.

?But I think we learned a great lesson about complacency from our opponents and we have to impress upon the lads that we can?t just go into this next game expecting to win.

?It was shown out there that nothing can be taken for granted in football and we definitely have to take that onboard.?

Nusum, who picked up a knock against Cayman, is expected to make the cut for Sunday although Smith, Jemeiko Jennings and Wilson are all carrying knocks.