Orlando Pirates suffered a 3-2 defeat to Qatar-based side Al Sadd in the final game of their pre-season tour in Spain on Friday evening.
The Buccaneers once again re-shuffled the pack from the draw against Granada a few days ago, with goalkeeper Melusi Buthelezi given a maiden start in pre-season.
This encounter didn't lack goal-mouth activity as the boys from the Middle East peeled off uncertain defending by the Buccaneers and allowed Hashim Ali in to make the breakthrough.
READ | Gilberto scores for Pirates in Granada stalemate
Pirates were able to hit back instantly after Kabelo Dlamini's decent forward play led him to deliver a telling pass for Tshegofatso Mabasa to tuck in.
Mabasa, who topped scored the league over last season, was in again and completed his brace barely a minute later when he curled a loose ball from the area into the top corner.
Al Sadd took a bit of time to get going once again, as the Soweto giants enjoyed total control of proceedings at this juncture before seeing a rasping drive from Deon Hotto go wide.
Th Qatari champions did go level five minutes to halftime when an unfortunate deflection by Thabiso Sesane wrong-footed Buthelezi and hit the net to level it up.
There was no less three substitutions by coach Jose Riveiro to effect change for the Buccaneers ahead of the second half, as Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo, Gilberto and Thuso Moleleki came on.
Al Sadd were up for it right after the break when Pedro Miguel made good of poor defending once more by the Sea Robbers and finished off smartly.
The Buccaneers battled to get in gear thereafter, although they enjoyed a lot of the possession in forward areas through Patrick Maswanganyi in particular but nothing worthwhile troubled Al Sadd.
In light of the lead, Al Sadd continued to go searching for more goals and came close through a dangerously looking effort from Yusuf Abdelrazaq, but young Siyabonga Zulu made a save.
Angolan Gilberto, who came on as a substitute, came close to bagging two goals in as many matches late on but curled wide as the final whistle went, with the Qatar side walking away victorious.
Confirmed line-ups:
Orlando Pirates: Buthelezi, Sibisi, Sesane, Monyane, Hotto, Timm, Rasebotja, Dlamini, Nkota, Kimvuidi, Mabasa
Subs: Chaine, Zulu, Dladla, Ndah, Mala, Lebitso, Mdalane, Mthethwa, Makhaula, Baloni, Mbatha, Ndlondlo, Kapinga, Moleleki, Maswaganyi, Saleng, Otladisa, Mofokeng, Gilberto, Makgopa, Lepasa