In the final day fixtures of the Caribbean group qualifiers at the National Sports Centre in Bermuda, yesterday, Guyana squandered their chances of advancing to the next round with a 2-3 loss to St Lucia, while Bermuda drew with Trinidad & Tobago to claim the group’s place in the next round.

Bermuda, Guyana and St Lucia ended the series with four points each, while the highly touted Trinidad & Tobago, the group’s favourites, go home at the bottom with three points, despite not losing a match.

The place was decided on goal difference, with Bermuda ending with six goals, while conceding two goals for a difference of plus four. Guyana scored four goals and gave away four for a zero difference and St Lucia had three goals, while conceding seven for a difference of minus four.

Technical Director Neider Dos Santos told Chronicle Sport: "We played much better than St Lucia, but unfortunately we had two big mistakes in defence, giving St Lucia two goals in the first half.

"In the first 15 minutes of the second half, we levelled the game. We played very well in the second half, but we lost 8-10 opportunities. In the closing minutes, we made the second big mistake. But that is football. I can’t blame any player."

Dos Santos said the team’s performance in the tournament was above expectations.

"They improved very much in the two months I was with them. We placed second and only by goal difference. Bermuda and Guyana played the best football in the tournament," Dos Santos said.

"I am proud of the players. Making mistakes or not, they fought all the time. If they had more international exposure they would have won the tournament," Dos Santos declared.

Dwight Peters and Carlos Monkhouse scored for Guyana, while Clemarkus Nanton hit a double for St Lucia and Justin St Clair put in the other.

Peters made the first rush for goal in about a minute of play, in a raid down the right wing. But the rest of the team moved in slow motion and St Lucia controlled the run of play, utilising the wide gap in the midfield. Leon Grumble hung close to the defence and Monkhouse worked overtime to cover the ground.

The opponents forced the first of three corners within three minutes, and fired seven shots to goal, two of which found the net. Guyana had no corners and aimed five shots.

Guyana did have good runs in the half. In the 16th minute, Peters at left collected a pass from centre, and from just inside the box, hit the ball way outside the goal as he failed to find his footing.

Ten minutes later, Daniel Favourite on the right win, sent the ball to Konata Manning, who volleyed from 20 metres out, the ball zooming over the crossbar.

A minute later, wingback Devon Cormack overlapped nicely, advancing with the ball down the left wing, but he was brought down just outside the edge of the box.

Then in the 33rd minute, in a counter-attack, Madramootoo failed to collect a loose ball and Nanton raced to goal, facing goalkeeper Fidel Smith one-on-one, then he pushed the ball past the advancing goalkeeper into the southern net.

By now Favourite was evidently tired and he was replaced with Shawn Sobers.

St Lucia got a thrown-in on the right wing, and Madramootoo, close to the near post, left the ball and St Clair rushed in to slot in the ball from very close range. They went into halftime leading 2-0.

At the start of the second half, Guyana replaced wingback Colin Clarke with Randy Small. And within six minutes of the resumption, a revitalised Guyana pulled back the first goal. In an authoritative attack down the left wing, the cross came from close to the goal line and Peters pushed the ball into the net as the goalkeeper held post.

With the same momentum, the equaliser came two minutes later. From a right corner kick taken by Small, Monkhouse volleyed from close range in the 53rd minute.

From there, Guyana dominated the game, but from the 13 shots aimed to goal, no other was on target as Manning and Peters chose to shoot from long range, instead of taking on the defence to get closer.

St Lucia began closing in to goal, firing seven shots to goal. One of them produced the winner. In a close shave before the decider, Guyana’s defence lapsed during a left-wing raid and Smith had to dive to save the close range shot, the ball escaping before he eventually clutched it safely.