Lightbourne was born in
Hamilton, Bermuda and played for
PHC Zebras before moving to England to play for
Scarborough at the age of 23. He played 21 times for Scarborough before joining
Walsall in September 1993. Lightbourne soon struck up a partnership with Kevin Wilson and the pair became prolific goalscorers and earned Walsall some success. He scored 9 goals in 41 appearances in
1993–94 before scoring 27 goals in
1994–95 as Walsall gained promotion. He scored 24 goals in
1995–96 and 25 in
1996–97. This earned him a lucrative move to
Premier League side
Coventry City for a fee of £500,000. However his chances at
Highfield Road were limited and after making only 7 appearances plus a loan spell at
Fulham he moved to
Stoke City in February 1998. He didn't get off to the best of starts with Stoke as he struggled with illness and form as Stoke suffered relegation from the
First Division in
1997–98. He improved in
1998–99, netting eight goals. In
1999–2000 Lightbourne scored 10 goals in 52 appearances as Stoke reached the play-offs where they lost to
Gillingham. He played in the
2000 Football League Trophy Final at
Wembley as Stoke beat
Bristol City 2–1. In
2000–01 he found his chances of first team football more restricted but still managed five goals in 28 appearances. In the latter part of the season he spent spells on loan at
Swindon Town and
Cardiff City. He was released by Stoke in the summer of 2001 and after a brief unsuccessful spell in Sweden with
IFK Norrköping he played two seasons with
Macclesfield Town and had a short loan spell at
Hull City before returning to Bermuda. In 2007, Lightbourne joined
Shaun Goater as part of the management team of USL side
Bermuda Hogges, making 12 appearances for the team. He officially retired from football in 2009. ==International career==