Penybont endured a difficult evening and a blow to their hopes of advancing as they suffered a 3-0 defeat away to Lithuania’s Kauno Zalgiris in the Uefa Conference League first qualifying round first leg.
The Cymru Premier side’s preparations had been disrupted when their luggage had been lost on route to Lithuania.
The lost luggage included the squad’s boots, and the travelling party had to hastily buy replacements, before being returned to them on Thursday morning.
Rhys Griffiths’ side made a positive start to the away leg played at the Central Stadium in Jonava due to Kauno’s home being unavailable due to a Guns N’ Roses concert.
Bont were were given a let off when a Kauno has a goal ruled out for offside.
But the Lithuanian side went ahead on 18 minutes with Gabe Kircough conceding into his own net after good work by Amine Benchaib.
Kauno doubled their lead six minutes later with captain Gratas Sirgėdas curving in a free-kick from the right hand side which went over the head of keeper Luke Armstrong.
They fell further behind a minute after the break with Damjan Pavlović netting from Fabien Ourega’s pull back.
Penybont’s misery was compounded with 25 minutes remaining when Mael Davies was sent-off after receiving a second yellow card.
The second leg will be played at Cardiff International Sports Stadium on 17 July as their own SDM Glass Stadium does not meet Uefa criteria.
The winners will face Valur from Iceland or Estonian side Flora Tallinn in the second qualifying round.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Bont boss Rhys Griffiths said: “I think the thing to acknowledge is how good they were, we watched lots of analysis on them, but you never quite get the feel of a team until you’re pitchside, and they were a very good side.
“I’ve found out a bit more about them know in terms of their budget compared to ours, they’re buying players for half a million, which in our world is a lot of money, I know it’s not a lot of money in the bigger football world.
“They’re a very good side, but on top of that they did get a couple of fortunate goals, and the officiating was pretty poor as well. They were already 10% better than us on the night, but they gained a couple of extra percentages as well, in my opinion.”