Dundee brought the curtain down on their trip to Portugal with a narrow loss to local side SC Farense in an ill-tempered match.
Manager Neil McCann had stressed that fitness and readiness for the new season mattered more than results and his side did score two fine goals through teenager Jack Lambert and trialist Adil Nabi.
This was no friendly game, though, with the Scots getting more and more frustrated by the refereeing as the game wore on. There were some wild challenges flying in from the Farense players and tempers boiled over at times.
As expected, the Dens men included their two trialists – Louis Nganioni and Nabi – from the start. There were also places for young pair Lambert and Matty Henvey.
There was also a change of formation, with four at the back this time after playing a three in the 4-0 loss to Portimonense on Sunday.
There were around 150 fans inside the stadium to cheer on the Dark Blues and they made plenty of noise.
There was an early injury scare for Dundee on four minutes when Lambert was kicked but he recovered quickly.
On eight minutes, it was 1-0 to the team from Faro when the ball broke to Bernardo just outside the six-yard box and he side-footed past goalie Elliott Parish.
On 15 minutes, Craig Wighton went on a mazy run that took him to the edge of the Farense box before he was fouled but, remarkably, there was no freekick given.
The Dark Blues were getting annoyed at some of the decisions and they had cause to complain again just minutes later when Lambert was fouled but play was waved on.
On 18 minutes, though, they grabbed the equaliser.
The goal was made by trialist Nganioni, who produced some good work on the left before cutting back to Lambert. He wasted little time in firing high into the net and it was a fine finish from the 19-year-old.
Once again the officiating was annoying the Dundee dugout and the referee came over to have a word with manager Neil McCann.
There was a scare for the Scots on the half-hour when the ball was deflected onto their bar but the danger was cleared.
Dundee created a nice chance with 36 minutes on the clock when a long ball from Nabi fell perfectly for Randy Wolters but the Dutchman’s low drive was held by keeper Daniel Fernandes.
With just seconds remaining of the first half, the Portuguese regained the lead thanks to a great bit of skill from Vanja Markovic that saw him take the ball on his chest, turn then smash a shot past Parish.
While Farense brought on a whole, new 11 at half-time, the Dark Blues made just one change – Jack Hamilton replacing Parish in goal.
Four minutes after the restart, the locals came close to a third goal when a curling shot from Ivanildo just cleared the bar.
The rest of the Dark Blues’ substitutes joined Hamilton on the park on 55 minutes as they shook things up.
Three minutes later, though, it was 3-1 to Farense as Fabio Gomes scored from the spot after the ref awarded a penalty for a foul by Genseric Kusunga on Tavinho.
Wolters then blasted a shot from outside the box that was tipped around the post as the Dens men tried to hit back.
The Dundee anger at the refereeing wasn’t going away and when sub Glen Kamara was tripped on 67 minutes there was some squaring up between the two sets of players.
Wolters was then chopped down by a terrible challenge inside the Farense box as things got pretty nasty.
Nathan Ralph fired over the bar from close range as Dundee continued to look for a goal.
With just two minutes to go, Nadi ended the trip on a high when he was found by a Paul McGowan pass, rounded the goalie then prodded the ball into the net to cut the deficit to one.
Now the Dark Blues can count their bruises on the plane home.
SC Farense: Starting side: Fernandes, Michael Silva, Bernardo, Perisic, Ribeiro, Viera, Fabricio, Markovic, Alvarinho, Alan Junior, Irobiso.
Dundee: Starting side: Parish, Curran, Meekings, Jefferies, Nganioni, Nabi, Madianga, Lambert, Wolters, Henvey, Wighton. Subs (all used): Hamilton, Kerr, Mendy, Ngwatala, Ralph, McGowan, Kamara.
