Matt Sparrow has admitted Albion lost their way in last night's closing friendly defeat in Portugal.

The Seagulls were beaten 2-1 by Olhanense after the former Scunthorpe midfielder put them ahead early in the second half from a cross by the subsequently injured Kazenga LuaLua.

Sparrow said: "For the first hour, when we went 1-0 up, I thought we were dictating the game. We played well, kept the ball well and were looking dangerous, especially with LuaLua on the left causing problems for the fullback.

"When they equalised after we made a mistake then the game changed. It killed us a little bit and it was hard to get our momentum going.

"Luckily it's only a friendly but we were all disappointed to lose the game in the end."

There will be little respite for Gus Poyet's players in the pre-season build-up. They face Spurs on Saturday in the official opening of The Amex.

Sparrow said: "Every player wants to start that opening league game against Doncaster. If one of us went through the motions he would soon sort it out."