Coach Keith Tucker believes the experience and defensive know-how of "old man" Omar Shakir will help tighten up Bermuda's back-line against Puerto Rico.

Shakir is set for his first start under his former Howard University coach after being ruled out of last month's doubleheader against St. Kitts and Nevis because of injury.

The cultured defender blossomed during Bermuda Hogges' inaugural USL-D2 campaign and has forged an unyielding partnership with national team colleague Kevin Richards at table-topping PHC this season.

"It will be good to have the old man back," said Tucker. "He's an important player for us and has plenty of experience. He can keep an eye on some of the younger guys and will give us a real boost.

"His return to fitness means we now have a bit more strength in that department. I thought Kevin Richards did a great job against St. Kitts and Nevis and Darius Cox has been doing everything we've asked of him in training and, of course, he has that lethal right foot."

Tucker wants his team to adopt a more patient style of football compared to the sometimes-frantic fayre served up in the Premier Division, and believes the composure of his defenders is at the heart of that transformation.

"The Bermuda style of play is very fast and there's no way you'll have success in World Cup qualifiers playing frantic football," said Tucker. "We've the pace to hurt teams in attacking areas of the pitch, but I'm trying to slow down some of our build-up play a little.

"We've been trying to get our defenders to be more patient on the ball. Having watched the video from the St. Kitts games, I saw a lot of our good attacking play actually came from our defence.

"It's important our defenders don't panic on the ball, that's the way I want us to play. Our offensive game has been ticking in training and I feel we're starting to blend. If we all stay on the same page we should be alright."