Orlando Pirates’ hunt for their first CAF Confederation Cup trophy continues after a penalty shootout loss to RS Berkane on Friday night.

Following their semi-final second-leg match against Al Ahli Tripoli last weekend, the Buccaneers made no changes as Happy Jele began his third continental final for the club.

With just three minutes on the clock, Pirates squandered a golden opportunity to grab the lead through Deon Hotto, who shot a superbly timed through pass straight at goalkeeper Hamiani Akbi from a clear position.

All of Pirates’ previous interventions continued to go their way as Jele headed a cross from Goodman Mosele barely past the near post.

Minutes after the half-hour mark, the Buccaneers had another decent chance, with a low speculative attempt by Bandile Shandu forcing Akbi to run down and parry away.

On the stroke of halftime, Berkane began to push forward and came close to taking the lead thanks to a low shot from Charki El Bahri that Richard Ofori struggled to deal with.

After the break, the Buccaneers continued to dominate, forcing another close-range stop from Akbi on another guilt-edge attempt by Hotto with the defence caught square.

Tshegofatso Mabasa replaced Kwame Peprah up front for Pirates over 30 minutes in the second half with a fresh pair of legs in the final third.

The Pirates still struggled up top, where the addition of Mabasa had little discernible effect, and the game went into extra time.

Five minutes into extra time, Berkane got a foul from Thabang Monare in the area following a review and won a penalty, which El Fahli put away comfortably.

After Mabasa nodded a drifted ball across the bottom-corner, it was now all out attack for the Buccaneers, who appeared to be on the verge of a comeback.

On 117 minutes, Lorch came short in the area from a long ball and saw the pass go into the net, bringing Pirates level.

After Lorch’s penalty was saved, the game went to a penalty shoot-out, and Berkane won. Brahim El Bahraoui scored the winning kick.