(match abandoned) Floodlight failure at St. John's Field after just 45 minutes last night handed Bermuda Football Association a Dudley Eve headache.

With just one round of Premier Division matches remaining, to be played this Sunday, the BFA badly needed last night's match to be completed in order to announce their four-team line-up for the traditional holiday cup competition.

Now, somehow, the game will have to be replayed before the scheduled first round of the Dudley Eve next Thursday.

Play ended at St. John's Field when a bank of lights at the northeastern corner of the pitch suddenly failed during the half-time break.

A small fire in an electrical box containing wiring burst into flames, precipitating the shutting off of the lights, with a fire truck attending to douse the blaze before it did further damage to the supporting wooden pole.

Referee Anthony Mouchette's sounding of the final whistle, signalling the abandonment of the contest, marked the end of an inauspicious season debut of night soccer at the Western Stars Sports Club grounds.

While several fans took offence to the calling off the affair -- especially after paying full admission for what turned out to be only half a game -- Town coach Andrew Bascome and his counterpart at Village, Scott Morton, took it all in their stride.

"It's unfortunate that they had their lights go out, being that they worked so hard to put them together for the game tonight,'' said Morton, who will now make final preparations for Sunday's top of the table clash against PHC. "But that's what happens sometimes, we'll be prepared for the replay.'' The match was evenly balanced at the time, with Town having taken a third minute lead through a Kuma Smith free kick, while Kimandi Binns equalised with a header two minutes later.

The headache now for the BFA is whether they reschedule the match and extend the Dudley Eve Trophy cut-off beyond Sunday, or change the number of games played required for qualification.

Bermuda Football Association have received confirmation of Bermuda's Under-17 national team being awarded a place in the final CONCACAF tournament for position in the Youth World Cup.

Bermuda will compete during the final of the Caribbean Zone against Netherland Antilles, Jamaica and hosts Barbados, with the tournament slated for January 31-February 4.

The winner of the group will move on to the CONCACAF final Group A in the United States next April, against the host nation, Canada and the qualifiers from Central America.

The winner of that group will then go on to the finals proper in Trinidad and Tobago.