Bermuda are well on the way to re-emerging as a force on the international soccer stage, according to senior national coach Kenny Thompson.

Thompson made those comments ahead of tonight?s final match against visiting Trinidad and Tobago at the National Sports Centre.

Bermuda went down 1-0 on Tuesday night against the touring team in what proved to be an enthralling 90 minutes of football.

Still, despite the loss, coach Thompson remains confident Bermuda can build on that gutsy performance and level the international friendly series tonight when the two countries do battle for the second time in three days.

?The players showed on Tuesday night that we are well on the road to building a programme that all of Bermuda can be proud of. Based on that performance the future certainly looks bright and with a little bit of luck we could have won the match,? said Thompson.

?I was pleased with all the players, even those who came off the bench. John (Nusum) gave us what we required in attack, Kevin (Richards) certainly performed extremely well and Randy (Swan) looked like a seasoned international campaigner . . . he certainly didn?t look out of place.?

?Domico (Coddington), who is still very young and has some growing to do, also showed enormous potential,? the coach added.

Thompson made six changes from the starting eleven that went down 4-0 against Barbados last month and is expected to make at least two additional changes tonight.

Former national team skipper Meshach Wade, who sat out on Tuesday through suspension, is a highly probable replacement for the suspended Kentoine Jennings while promising Dandy Town defender Swan, who made his senior national debut coming on for the injured Shannon Burgess, could very well be among the starting eleven.

Coach Thompson has again kept his final team selection under heavy wraps.

However, ahead of tonight?s game he?s stressed the importance of ?putting away chances?.

?We must make the most of our chances whenever they are presented to us. It was a bit disappointing to see us create so many chances during the last match but still come out on the losing end. But overall I was very pleased and proud of all the players. They all performed very well,? he said.

Missing from Tuesday night?s squad were Carlos Smith along with Dwayne Adams and Stephen Astwood, the latter two through injury. Smith, however, is expected to rejoin the team tonight.

Meanwhile, Trinidad & Tobago coach Ron La Forest admitted Tuesday?s contest proved tougher than anticipated.

?After I looked at them in the first half I readjusted . . . I pulled one of the strikers behind to play a sort of a midfield role so we had more passes coming from behind and people making runs at the sides and we started to get more involved in the second half,? he explained, promising a better showing from the ?Soca Warriors? tonight.

Trinidad?s England based professionals Stern John (Birmingham City) and Jason Scotland (Dundee United), originally due to fly in for tonight?s second clash will not be joining their team-mates. John picked up an injury during last Saturday?s match against Manchester City while Scotland has been denied permission by United to leave.