Bermuda Hogges 1

Richmond Kickers 0

Bermuda Hogges are making a habit of upsetting the sporting odds this season.

And once again Domico Coddington proved to be their trump card, scoring his third goal in as many matches to capture a prize victory over Richmond Kickers.

The same Richmond Kickers who are widely accepted as the league's most accomplished team.

The same Richmond Kickers who Hogges had never taken a point from let alone beaten.

The same Richmond Kickers who had been undefeated this campaign before Saturday night.

And the same Richmond Kickers who had claimed to be weakened by visa problems and injuries but still started with the majority of their big-hitters.

Any gambler worth his salt would have punted in Kickers' favour but just as they did last week against Harrisburg City Islanders, Hogges showed they're no longer the joker in the USL-D2 pack by winning in front of a jubilant National Sports Centre crowd.

No repeat of the 7-1 humbling of last season. Not this time around. Not with Omar Shakir dropping off to perfection to neutralise Kickers' long passes. Not with the ever so dependable Kevin Richards being, well, ever so dependable. Not with Darius Cox tackling, blocking, clearing everything in sight. And not with goalkeeper Nigel Burgess doing his best Gordon Banks impressions to foil Kickers whenever they managed to breach Hogges' watertight defence.

Burgess was simply superb especially in the second half as Kickers pushed and probed for an equaliser making a pair of point-blank stops, one reminiscent of the former England great Banks' legendary save from Pele's header at the 1970 World Cup. "Nigel was brilliant for us," coach Kyle Lightbourne said, who started with the same team that beat Harrisburg.

"He made a couple of superb saves to keep our noses in front and I was very pleased with his performance.

"We rode our luck and we were under the cosh at times but we stuck at it and kept them at bay. I thought we were better tonight than last week."

While Burgess was the star of the second period, it was Coddington who struck the decisive blow midway through the first with a near post header from Blenn Bean's training ground routine corner-kick.

Coddington's attacking virtues are so valuable for Hogges at present with the pacy striker being excused from training by Lightbourne all week so not to aggravate the leg injury he picked up during Hogges' win over Harrisburg.

"Domico scored again and he was touch and go before the game. But we gave him a chance to warm up to see how he was and he came up with the goods for us," Lightbourne said. "We have a lot of good characters who are prepared to dig in and work for the team.

"We lost 7-1 last season in a strange game . . . we're definitely improving."

While Hogges were indeed 'under the cosh' at times, they still created a few chances on the counter-attack with Antwan Russell guilty of squandering two good openings before half-time. Unfortunately for Russell both opportunities fell on his weaker left foot with the young striker failing to supply any venom to his misdirected shots. Fellow new-boy Keston Lewis rattled the crossbar with a snap shot after the break.

By not building a second-goal cushion Hogges ensured there was 'squeaky-bum' finish to the game but they managed to hold out until the final whistle to wrap up a win that lifts them to fifth in the league standings.

Two wins from their first two home matches – slowly but surely Hogges are beginning to stack the odds in their favour.

Bermuda Hogges: N.Burgess, K.Richards, O.Shakir, D.Cox, J.Peniston, B.Bean, S.Astwood, K.Jennings (S.Darrell 75 ) K.Lewis (S.DeGraff 75 ) A.Russell (J.Smith 79) D. Coddington (D.Ming 74)

Subs not used: J.Williams, J.Ball, L.Dill

Richmond Kickers: R.Pascale, A.Peters, J.Worthen, J.Talleson, K.Cutler, J.DiRaimondo (L.Cowlishaw 81), M.Burke, L.Vercollone (R.MacKenzie 73), D.Bulow (B.Hunter 73), M.Mbtuta, M.Delicate

Subs not used: M.Murphy, B.Hunter, D.Rosenbaum, S.Gomes

Referee: B.Roslund

Yellow cards: O.Shakir (Hogges)

Man-of-the-match: N.Burgess

n Bermuda Under-23s lost 4-0 to Kickers last night at BFA Field.