Women?s football in Bermuda received ?a tremendous boost? on the back of three impressive performances against visiting Wilmington College at the National Sports Centre last week.

After the national team recorded one win (2-0) and a hard-fought draw (2-2) against the visiting team, last season?s League and Konica Cup champions PHC applied the finishing touch to what proved to be a highly creditable week for local women?s football by outscoring the NCAA team 6-4 on Sunday at the Sports Centre.

But although national women?s coach Vance Brown was pleased with the final outcome of last week?s exhibition matches, the Island, he said, still had a long road to travel in the build-up to next year?s Small Island Games in Scotland in which Bermuda hope to compete.

?Women?s football in Bermuda is definitely on the up and we just have to make sure we are pushing it the right way and that we have the right people behind it pushing it the right way and the players uphold their end of the bargain by committing themselves and working hard,? said Brown.

Watching the national team acquit themselves well against the visitors, Brown said it was gratifying to see the game plan executed to near perfection.

?Our goal was not to lose any matches and just go out on the pitch and try to do our best and we ended up being successful,? he added.

?But it was definitely a plus to have our overseas-based players because they certainly enhanced our team and during the two games we played they showed a higher level of play.

?But that?s not to take away from the players who play locally because they also did an outstanding job.?

Brown took extra delight in watching his charges claw their way back from a two-goal deficit and earn a draw in their opening match, a performance which laid the foundation for better things to come.

?Two goals down is a situation in which some teams would give in but we chose not to. At half-time we talked about it and came back out with a plan and scored two goals and almost a third,? added the Rude Girls coach.

?So, overall I am very pleased because if you look at the last time Wilmington were here they won all of their games but this time they didn?t win a match.

?I think we are definitely progressing and I was happy to see some of the things we had worked on come to fruition during the matches . . . but we still have some way to go.?