Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz lost captain Jermaine Taylor in the first half but they never lost spirit as they battled courageously to a goalless scoreline against Costa Rica inside the National Stadium last night.

The result snapped a three-game winning streak by the Jamaicans, who were coming off 1-0 and 2-0 triumphs over Caribbean neighbours Cuba here on February 22 an 24, as well as a 3-2 victory over New Zealand in Auckland on February 29.

The Boyz started brightly with Navion Boyd forcing goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton to palm away a right footer shortly after Canadian referee David Gantar had signalled start of play.

Boyd, the Tivoli Gardens star who registered his first goal for Jamaica against New Zealand, was at it again approaching the half hour mark, but his effort sailed wide after Jamaica, through the instinctive efforts of Je-Vaughn Watson and Joel Senior, had carved an opening in the Costa Rican defence.

But things took a turn for the worse when Taylor picked up two cautions in as many minutes to leave his team shorthanded eight minutes from the interval. This forced head coach Theodore Whitmore and his technical staff to change tactics by dropping central midfielder Rohan Reid to central defence and play on the counter attack for the remainder of the first half.

With the Boyz penned back in defence, Costa Rica forced goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett into a save on the stroke of half-time.

The best chance of the second half fell to Jairo Arrieta, who spooned his effort from six yards over the top, after he benefitted from a deflected freekick outside the penalty area. The player was withdrawn immediately by coach Jorge Luis Pinto.

But Renae Lloyd, who entered the field to replace Watson, almost made the headlines immediately when his header from a Troy Smith right-sided corner was tipped onto the crossbar and back into play by Pemberton to leave the team even at the end.

Teams: Jamaica — Jacomeno Barrett, Jermaine Taylor (ejected 37th), Adrian Reid, Troy Smith, Xavian Virgo, Rohan Reid, Damion Williams (Richard Edwards 90th+), Joel Senior (Mitchily Waul 78th), Je-Vaughn Watson (Renae Lloyd 67th), Navion Boyd (Montrose Phinn 46th), Dino Williams (Alanzo Adlam 63rd)

Booked: Taylor (36th, 37th), Damion Williams (45th)

Subs not used: Shaven Sean Paul, Keneil Moodie,  Andrae Campbell, Jorginho James, Jermaine Hue, Ewan Grandison

Costa Rica — Patrick Pemberton, Jose Salvatierra, Giancarlo Gonzales, Porfirio Lopez, Jose Miguel Cubero, Pablo Gabas (Dave Myrie 81st), Yeltsin Tejeda (Eduardo Valverde 88th), Juan Dego Monge (Luis Diego Cordero 54th), Jairo Arrieta (Nestor Monge 64th), Oscar Rojas, Bismark Acosta

Booked: Gabas (35th)

Subs not used: Dany Carvajal, Kendall Watson

Referee: David Gantar (Canada)

Assistant Referees: Ricardo Morgan, Garnet Page (Jamaica)

Fourth Official: Courtney Campbell (Jamaica)

Match Commissioner: Ewan Scott (Jamaica)

Referee Assessor: Anthony Garwood (Jamaica)