coach took a turn for the worse almost as soon as Bermuda started the away legs of their World Cup campaign.

Bermuda were beaten 4-1 by group winners El Salvador, 3-2 by Jamaica and 4-2 by Canada in a two-week period that saw the team fall from first to last. A surprise 1-0 win over El Salvador and a 1-1 draw with Jamaica put Bermuda in a favourable position but they came unravelled on the road.

"How things went abroad played a huge part on how I feel,'' said Goater, who still was surprised to learn of Darrell's resignation yesterday. "The training was not at the tempo that I was used to and my game was affected. Out of all the games I played away I didn't play as good as I could have -- I had a halfway decent game against El Salvador and that was it.'' The Rotherham striker, who admittedly "struggled'' in a 3-3 Reserve Division draw with Notts County last night, said he has nothing personal against Darrell but somehow things changed when the team left Bermuda.

"The training was not kept up to what it should have been,'' he said. "When we were up Warwick Camp we trained twice a day and had physical, that was what I was used to. But when we went away things changed right away.'' The 22-year-old offered no excuses for missing a photo session, training session and inspection. He said he felt that he would be making a statement of his dissatisfaction with the way things had been going abroad and once the team returned after the 4-2 loss to Canada.

"I was going training consistently and knowing there would be only six to eight guys there,'' he said. "I knew about the training and the picture session but I said to myself, `I'm always the one to be on time and reliable.

Maybe not this time.' I know it's not a good excuse but it got frustrating.

"As long as I've got a coach that can keep the team interested as well as me learning it will always be competitive and that will be brought onto the field.

"But for you to have less than 10 players training and still be involved in the World Cup, the players can't be too enthusiastic about training. I thought everyone would want to still be a part. It surprised me to see how many players we had on the actual day of the game.'' For all his criticism of Darrell, Goater said he felt the coach played a vital role in helping the locally-based players to adjust.

"I thought he was good for a lot of the local players. He knew how I play and he tried to help them a lot but I felt he couldn't take me any further, and in all honesty one or two of the other players would say that as well.'' Goater now has to fight his way back into the Rotherham first team and on the strength of last night's performance he admits it could be a tough haul. "I am way behind,'' he said. "If you could have seen that game on videotape. I am just glad they didn't just throw me into the first team where I would have really embarrassed myself.'' Kyle Lightbourne spent much of yesterday with Goater in Rotherham and attended the Reserve Division match. He was set to travel to Scarborough today to begin his six-month trial period with the Third Division club.

SHAWN GOATER -- Shocked by Gary Darrell's resignation.

SHAUN GOATER THE GOAT