8/12/2009 11:18:00 AM Our defence improved, but we needed to finish better Smith and Russell will be better players for the Hogges next year with experience
Paul Scope Sun columnist
A tough season for the Bermuda Hogges ended this weekend with another away defeat leaving us bottom of the table.
But the stats don't tell the whole story.
Would we have liked to make more progress? No doubt.
Did we expect better after the great start we had? No doubt.
Do we think we have made progress on previous seasons? Again, no doubt. Certainly Kyle (Lightbourne) and I think so.
We have had three blow-outs but we have been competitive in 17 out of 20 matches.
There are teams out there capable of giving you a caning and we weren't the only ones to suffer. We are also not the only team to go through a season without an away win.
Home field advantage is big in this league and we are worse off than most because of the amount of traveling we have to do to get to away games.
What we are doing is trying to improve the quality of football in Bermuda and I believe we have made progress in that respect.
It's been challenging on the road for our players but when you have played a season of difficult away games it is good experience for when you have to go to places like Haiti, Cuba or Mexico in the World Cup or the Digicel.
Sometimes you have to learn harsh lessons. Some players will get it, others won't, but the experience they have gained will help Bermuda.
We are all competitive people and we want to win games. We would have liked to have won more but we've got better and I believe a breakthrough season is on the horizon.
The biggest improvement, for me, this year, was the defence. We don't give away as many silly goals as we have in the past.
The biggest disappointment was in front of goal. We didn't finish enough of our chances and that cost us dearly.
Bermuda doesn't seem to produce many natural finishers who are deadly in front of goal. I think the last two were Kyle and Shaun.
Jamie Smith and Antwan Russell will be better players for getting a season under their belts and we will look to improve in that respect next season.
Two players who have excelled this season are Damon Ming and Stevie Astwood. They are respected around the league and the improvement those two have made is a sign that things are moving in the right direction.
Ultimately we are a development team and it is hard for us to progress as quickly as our competition.
Crystal Palace Baltimore brought in players from Cameroon, England and Africa. They even took one of our best players - John Barry Nusum.
We don't mind that. Our aim is to pick all or nearly all Bermudian players. That puts us at a competitive disadvantage against our opponents but the reason we set up the club is to improve Bermudian football. That's the greater goal.
