Orlando Pirates assistant coach Bradley Carnell is disappointed by the Buccaneers performances in the Dr Hage Geingob Cup.

The Buccaneers suffered a 3-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns in the semi-finals of the pre-season tournament before succumbing to an 8-7 defeat on penalties against African Stars in the third-place play-off on Sunday.

Muhsin Ertugral’s men will be hoping to redeem themselves when they take on Platinum Stars at the Maize Cup this weekend.

Despite, finishing last in the pre-season tournament, Carnell insists that the Sea Robbers used the matches to experiment with different combinations.

‘Look, obviously, we are disappointed and were looking to get a better outlook but at the end of the day, it was about preparing for the new season. We used this match to try out various combinations,’ Carnell told the Orlando Pirates website.

The 39-year-old continued to say that Pirates will be hoping to remain focused and improve their performance before the start of the Absa Premiership season.

‘For us, it is about building blocks… we have a puzzle to build and we have about two to two-and-a-half weeks to build this puzzle. We need to make sure we focus and look to see improvement,’ he added.

Carnell says the side have just two pre-season friendlies to use to get up to speed ahead of the new season.

‘We have another friendly on Wednesday and another one the following week so we can get into a good rhythm where the coach wants to go,’ he concluded.