Bermuda 0 Costa Rica 2 Bermuda's Olympic soccer dream turned into a nightmare at National Stadium on Saturday night.

A 2-0 home defeat leaves the Island's youngsters with a mountain to climb when they travel to Costa Rica for Sunday's return leg.

And worse still, they'll be without Keith Jennings who received his marching orders just eight minutes into the second half of Saturday's clash.

A fuming coach, Mark Trott, made no secret where he laid blame for the loss -- squarely on the shoulders of American referee Brian Hall.

The 1994 World Cup official made what appeared to be a harsh first half penalty decision that gave Costa Rica the all-important opening goal. And after a temper-frayed start to the second half, it was Jennings who went for an early shower for what the referee thought was a reckless tackle, but seemed to many no worse than several before it.

But it should be said that both Ottis Steede and Raynel Lightbourne were perhaps lucky to remain on the field following off-the-ball incidents. And it took the cool head of skipper Dwayne Adams to calm tempers during one frenetic period when some players appeared more intent on picking a fight than playing football.

Trott, however, felt the sending off, in the 53rd minute, changed the pattern of the game.

"The guy had fallen down -- and the ref gave our player a red card. He never even gave him a yellow!'' stormed the coach. "Up until then, Jennings had been playing excellent.

"There had been a couple of bad decisions. The play was a bit rough but not out of hand.

"Then all of a sudden we had to change tactics. We had to be more compact, not allow their players get behind us. But it was a turning point. We had to change our game. "Before the penalty we could have been 3-0 or 4-0 up. We'd had our chances.'' Bermuda, indeed, had created some early opportunities but the visitors overall were more inventive in both midfield and attack.

With Bermuda forced to push forward with only 10 men after conceding a second goal, Costa Rica might have added two or three more to their tally on the counter attack.

Particularly dangerous was the bustling Ronald Gomez, the same big striker who crashed home two goals in Costa Rica's 5-0 thumping of Bermuda at the Pan-Am Games in March.

It was Gomez who put the Costa Ricans ahead in the 23rd minute after Sergio Morales tumbled over in the penalty area following a challenge from Giovanni Wilson. His spot kick thundered high into the net giving 'keeper Adams no chance.

Before a crowd of no more than 2,000, Bermuda, until then, had created as many chances as their opponents, the best falling to Nakia Smith who wriggled past a defender to fire in a shot which goalkeeper Lester Morgan could only fumble.

Lightbourne showed promise with some nifty moves up front but could never make enough room to get off a clear shot. And Lamaul Crofton also came into the game late in the half with a couple of darting runs which led to nothing.

It was at the start of the second half, however, that one sensed the game was slipping out of Bermuda's grasp. Lightbourne immediately went into the referee's book for elbowing Max Sanchez in the face, although the Costa Rican made the incident look much worse than it was.

Steede also received the yellow card, apparently for something he said after Janeiro Tucker had been bundled off the ball. And play had barely restarted when Jennings' innocuous-looking tackle caused Hall to produce the red card.

Coach Trott quickly shuffled his side, first replacing Crofton with Quincy Aberdeen and soon after sending on Tafari Outerbridge for Andrew Rahman.

But Costa Rica didn't take long to exploit the one-man advantage.

A cross from Gomez on the right flank in the 63rd minute eluded all of Bermuda's defenders and substitute Jafette Soto timed his run to perfection to thunder home a spectacular header.

To their credit, Bermuda continued to battle on but with several of the players showing signs of fatigue and suffering from cramp in the last 20 minutes, only the fresh legs of Aberdeen posed the visitors' defence with a problem.

A defeat such as this where away goals count double in the event of a draw, leaves Bermuda needing to score at least three times next Sunday in Costa Rica, which on this performance must be highly improbable.

But Trott refuses to concede defeat.

"We can still go down there and win. We have the attacking players to do it.

It's going to be tough. But we can do it.''.

Bermuda: Dwayne Adams, Keimon Lawrence (Jamel Smith, 70 mins), Stanton Lewis, Nakia Smith, Janeiro Tucker, Giovanni Wilson, Andrew Rahman (Tafari Outerbridge, 62 mins), Ottis Steede, Keith Jennings, Raynel Lightbourne, Lamaul Crofton (Quincy Aberdeen, 55 mins).

Costa Rica: Lester Morgan, Try Bennett, Reynaldo Park, Max Sanchez (Dennis Valverde, 60 mins), Luis Antonio, Jose Pablo Fonseca, Harold Wallahee, Wilson Munoz, Sergio Morales (Jafette Soto, 53 mins), Yewisson Bennett (Bernall Mullins, 70 mins), Ronald Gomez.

Referee: Brian Hall (US). Linesmen: Paul Timberino (US), Edwin Resendes (US).

Photos by Tamell Simons RACE IS ON -- Bermuda's Janeiro Tucker (right) and Costa Rica's Ronald Gomez battle for possession during Saturday's Olympic clash at National Stadium.

OFF TARGET -- Ottis Steede (16) and Janeiro Tucker (12) prepare to clear as Costa Rica's Max Sanchez watches his header fly wide of the mark.