Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson's KSV Roeselare face an uphill battle to reach the Belgian Cup final after going down 3-0 to KV Cercle Brugge in their semi-final, first-leg tie.
With a vital final First Division fixture to follow on Sunday, Roeselare manager Dennis van Wijk left out regular starters Nikita Rukavytsya, Joeri Dequevy and Eyjolfsson's Iceland Under-21 colleague Bjarni Vidarsson.
Eyjolfsson kept his place at the heart of the defence, though, and Roeselare made an encouraging start at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON KSV ROESELARE
However, Cercle, who sit ninth in the First Division table to Roeselare's 15th, steadily began to take control of the match, going ahead through Jelle Vossen's goal on 29 minutes.
Hans Cornelis doubled the hosts' advantage seven minutes later before Ukrainian Oleg Iachtchouk added a third goal with 18 minutes remaining.
Roeselare, playing in the semi-finals for the first time in the club's 89-year history, will need to produce a heroic performance in the second leg, which will be played at their own Schiervelde Stadion home on Friday 26 March.
Before then, the Flanders-based side have the small matter of a home league match with KVC Westerlo, who visit on Sunday evening.
Roeselare must win and hope 14th-placed KSC Lokeren fail to beat champions Anderlecht to leapfrog Lokeren out of the relegation play-off position.