Bermuda’s 2022 World Cup qualifying preparations gathered momentum with a convincing 3-0 victory over Bahamas in a friendly at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida last night.

Zeiko Lewis opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 28th minute to earn Kyle Lightbourne’s team a 1-0 advantage at the half.

Things got even better for Bermuda when play resumed, as additional tallies from Enrique Russell in the 50th minute and Remy Coddington with two minutes left put the game beyond their opponents’ reach.

Lightbourne was delighted with the outcome but even more so to finally have his players get precious minutes on the pitch in a competitive match, which they have been deprived of lately because of Covid-19 restrictions.

“A 3-0 victory in a game that we needed,” he said. “The boys looked rusty at periods, but the job was just to get the legs going again.

“They realised that they were in a match again, so it was good that we were able to keep a clean sheet and everyone got minutes.

“The team that started got 55 minutes and then the rest finished the game off, so we made 11 changes after that.”

The two Concacaf rivals will face off again tomorrow.

“We will be back to training tomorrow morning [Saturday], assess all the players and get ready for the game the next day,” Lightbourne added.

“We will be up early in the morning, go back to the hotel and guys will get ice baths and recover. Everything is recovery and work for the quick turnaround game on Sunday.”

The national team have travelled to Florida for a mini-camp at the IMG Academy in preparation for their opening World Cup qualifier against Canada at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando on March 25.

The fixture was moved from Canada to a neutral venue after the Canadian Government imposed stricter restrictions on travellers to combat a more contagious variant of Covid-19 and suspended airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30. No spectators will be allowed to attend.

The squad will return home on Monday.