Antigua & Barbuda opened their Digicel Caribbean Championship offshore account in Grand Cayman with a clinical 4-0 demolition of an outclassed Bermuda earlier this week.

The match would be put beyond all doubt in minute 62 when a defensive lapse saw Randolph Burton latch onto the faux pas, before slotting home coolly with the keeper at his mercy.

Bermuda would only fashion one more attempt at goal in the second half as Antigua & Barbuda played possession football to good effect. The entrance of substitute Okeem Challenger proved a stroke of genius, as he was able to reinterpret the hand of god goal with just his second touch of the game, after breaking into the box the burly striker received a pass from Jamie Thomas that struck his hand and fell nicely for the low finish to make it 4-0.

It was almost 5-0 when man of the match Jamie Thomas cut in from the left flank to fire a right footed pile driver from an acute angle that almost snapped the post in half. By this stage Antigua & Barbuda were walking through the backline so it came as a small mercy when the final whistle blew.

Final score Antigua & Barbuda, 4 and Bermuda, 0. Putting the twin islanders atop the standings with 3 points, to set up a clash with French speaking St. Martin in their next fixture of the Digicel Caribbean Championships 2008.

IN ANOTHER MATCH – Digicel Caribbean Championship Group “C” hosts Cayman, were far from hospitable in their treatment of St. Martin on the pitch as they carved their way to a 3-0 victory against the French speaking territory. The smallest nation in the world to have ever been partitioned, were torn asunder repeatedly by Cayman’s swift flank attacks and fluid movement off the ball.

The Cayman islanders showed their attacking intentions early, as within 5 minutes of kickoff three attacks had already originated from their left side. Calvin Escobar Jeffers was a lightning rod for passes as he seemed to be the main target man along the flanks for Cayman.

Jeffers was involved again in minute 68 when, after his cross from the right was completely miscued by Charles Emile, allowed a tap in for Jairo Sanchez to make it 2-0.

Jeffers would cap his man of the match performance in injury time in a carbon copy of the play that preceded it: Jeffers latched onto the long throw from his own keeper Leighton Elliot, plaited his way past the first defender, lobbed the second before stroking it into the path of the oncoming Nikolai Alexander Hill who made no mistake having come on just minutes before as a substitute.

Cayman storm to victory in front of a home crowd for the first time in the Digicel Championships, something to treasure with a visit from Hurricane Gustav expected within days. Next up for the Caymanians is the revenge match against Bermuda, while Antigua & Barbuda play St Martin.