As Bermuda's under-15s gear up for a second Caribbean Championship qualifiying round match against either the Bahamas or the US Virgin Islands in April after their 5-0 annihilation of the Cayman Islands, there's an important question to be asked: Were Bermuda really that good or did they just catch the Caymans on an off day? After all, the same opponents had fought to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the competition.

"I don't think the Caymans team was very, very strong,'' admitted coach Kenny Thompson afterwards. "Nonetheless, we have to look at our performance and our performance was quite good.

"Sometimes it reached spectacular levels for boys so young. They have a lot to be proud of.'' He added: "I think part of our concept is to keep intense pressure on the opponents and the Cayman Islands played with a lot of players behind the ball -- I'm not sure whether that was their tactic or whether it was forced upon them because of our play.

"But I think overall the team solved the problem which we had in the Cayman Islands -- and that was dealing with their long balls. I think we made one mistake when the ball got over the back in the first half but the players quickly recognised the situation and dealt with it.'' Positive words indeed from a coach, a breed of people notoriously difficult to keep completely satisfied.

In fact, after Thompson had taken time to address his charges in the dressing room, he emerged to say: "There's room for improvement.'' He was, at least in part, joking, but a serious point was made within those words.

He explained: "Once you solve one problem, you create a more difficult one.

The problem that we have now is playing better. We also have the problem of word getting around that we won 5-0 so other teams will obviously take us very seriously.'' Bermuda dominated the early exchanges, taking up residence in the Caymans' half even in the first 45 minutes when a strong wind was blowing in their faces. And once Damon Swan had opened the scoring shortly before the half hour, the only danger was the occasional hump out of defence for the two speedy Caymans strikers to chase.

When Dion Stovell, a young player who seems to have the ball on a magnet, added the second -- a superb individual effort -- Thompson could relax and enjoy the experience. "The first two goals really got us started,'' he admitted. "There's always a concern that we will play very good football and we won't reward ourselves.

"One of the things we talked about at half-time that I was a bit concerned about before we scored is that we could have used our possession up front a little better to create scoring chances.'' But the second half brought more of the same and with the wind behind him, goalkeeper Jason Williams was more likely to get frostbite from the bitter wind than a sting in the hand from a Caymans shot.

Bermuda should have had a penalty when Domico Coddington skipped into the area and was blatantly brought down. But a free kick on the edge of the area moments later enabled Jason Dill to step up and show his class with a clever free kick which curled over George Ramoon in the Caymans goal.

Fellow defender Chris Moulder headed the fourth and Swan lobbbed in the fifth, but there were countless other efforts that could have augmented the margin of the victory.

"They were all very good goals,'' agreed Thompson. "But, gosh, out of the lot, it is difficult to choose a favourite.

"We could have had eight or nine tonight. Their keeper made a few saves and we could have finished better in a few situations.

"But I guess that's always the case -- you score three and you think you should have had six.'' Five was probably sufficient for a crowd that grew as the match progressed and showed full appreciation of the talent on show.