The final scoreline of Sunday?s 3-0 Digicel Cup loss to St. Vincent did Bermuda?s cause scant justice.

That was the view yesterday of top striker John Barry Nusum, who argues his team?s fortunes might have taken a turn for the better had they capitalised on their chances when opportunity came knocking at the door.

?I don?t think the scoreline did any justice to the game itself. The game could have gone either way and unfortunately we couldn?t put our chances away,? stated the Philadelphia Kicks striker, who was among those squandering golden opportunities.

In the first half Nusum blew past the St. Vincent defence, only to see his lob over the advancing ?keeper dip over an empty net. Then, right at the start of the second half, Nusum failed to execute on a breakaway, two golden opportunities that came back to haunt the team in the end.

?I honestly felt that if we could have capitalised on one or two of the chances we had, it might have changed the entire face of the game,? the pro striker said.

?Had we gone up 1-0, we could probably have played a little differently and from our standpoint, it was disappointing to lose, but that?s how the game goes. I thought we played well, although they capitalised on their chances while we didn?t. And that was basically the bottom line.?

Nusum said he was now determined to make amends in tonight?s second match against Bahamas, a match Bermuda must win in order to keep their Digicel Cup hopes alive. ? I am always determined to try and perform to my best, regardless. And everybody is ready to move on because we can still make it through this competition.

?We don?t have to beat everybody to advance to the finals. We just have to look at the next two games and put in the performances we need to in order to get through to the next round.?

Nusum warned his team-mates not to take Bahamas, ranked 144th in the world, for granted in tonight?s crucial match. Neither side can afford to lose.

?We can?t take anyone for granted because basically all of the teams are in this competition to win,? he said. ?Maybe Bahamas had a bad game last night against Barbados like we did against St. Vincent in a match the final scoreline didn?t reflect.?

Meanwhile fellow pro striker Khano Smith is also confident Bermuda can regroup and achieve their primary objective of qualifying for the finals.

?St. Vincent were a very good team but I also thought we were too. We just didn?t take our chances, and they did. I actually thought we gave them three goals really,? the New England Revolution striker said.

Like strike partner Nusum, Smith also endured a subdued performance during Sunday?s loss. ?I thought I could have done more but I?m not going to dwell on it,? Smith added.

?I just have to go out there tomorrow and try and improve and do my best for the team. And I don?t feel any extra burdens on my shoulders because we just have to learn how to take our chances and win tonight and then focus on Thursday?s match (against Barbados).

?Bahamas are a good team and they are not going to be any pushovers. But we just need to beat them tomorrow without a doubt.?

Bermuda midfielder Stephen Astwood added: ?We just need to put our last game behind us and start all over again. What?s done is now a thing of the past and so there is nothing we can do about it now.

?We just need to stay concentrated on the next two games we have.?

Fellow midfielder Domico Coddington said Sunday?s loss had given the team an added incentive to win. ?We are really determined to get something out of this tournament now after last night. I think we need to work even harder to achieve our goal,? the Devonshire Cougars dynamo said.

?We have to go out against Bahamas and dictate to them and work with the resources we have. And hopefully we can create a lot more passes, switch to play up a bit and feed our strikers so that we can score some goals.?