Bermuda’s Digicel Cup vanquishers Haiti turned in a remarkable performance this week to win the regional competition by defeating hosts Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 in Tuesday’s final.

And just hours before his bosses announced that he was out of a job, national coach Kyle Lightbourne was insisting that this achievement had put his team’s 5-0, two-leg playoff thrashing at the hands of the Haitians this month into proper perspective.

“I’m not at all surprised Haiti won the tournament — they were the best team we had played since (assistant coach) Paul Scope and I have been in charge of the national team programme — and that includes the New England Revolution and (Brazilian club side) Santos” he said.

“They were very well organised and had great ability throughout their side. We took a lot of criticism after losing to them but maybe people now might be able to appreciate how good a side they actually are.

“We lost to only two teams throughout our Digicel Cup campaign, St. Vincent and Haiti, and one of them ended up winning the whole competition.

“I think that shows that we’ve come a pretty good distance in terms of our progress as a side in the last 12 months. Obviously we can still improve and prepare better but hopefully with the money coming on board from Government there will be an opportunity to do that.”

Scope, meanwhile, said Haiti’s victory demonstrated the value of “thorough preparation” — a reference to the fact that they flew to Trinidad a full ten days before the game with Bermuda to acclimatise, train and play practice matches.

“Their preparation for the latter stages of the tournament was extremely professional and they have been successful as a result,” he said.

“I don’t think the Bermuda team got enough credit for how they performed. Yes, we didn’t play as well as we would have liked against Haiti, but to a certain extent they didn’t allow us to and we found ourselves constantly under pressure.

“All things considered, it was no disgrace losing to Haiti and I thought the players had a good campaign.”