Wednesday concluded pre-season in Portugal with a friendly fixture here on the Algarve under the customary sweltering sun.
Premier League Bournemouth provided the opposition and the scoreline - 2-1 to the Cherries - was largely incidental as both sides upped the ante with the big kick-off on the horizon.
The contest was played at a good pace throughout and the mass interval substitutions aligned to pre-season were absent.
Darren Moore adjusted his strategies, increasing the game time of the starters, with the multiple changes delayed past the hour.
Earlier, his side came close to taking the lead just seven minutes in when Josh Windass burst down the right of the penalty area but his fierce hit was parried by Mark Travers.
At the other end, new recruit David Stockdale spectacularly kept out a looping Lloyd Kelly header before Bournemouth found the net on 44 minutes.
Lewis Cook took aim from 15 yards on the angle and a wicked deflection off George Byers sent the ball past fizzing past Stockdale.
The Owls struck back in an instant and only another smart save from Travers denied Windass an equaliser, which was the last of the first half action.
The early throes of the second period were relatively even until Bournemouth doubled their advantage on 56 minutes.
Dominic Solanke took possession with his back to goal inside the box and cleverly swiveled to fire across Stockdale and in.
Again Wednesday took no time to regroup and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru sidefooted past the post after good build-up play down the right channel.
Then came the changes, although the pattern of the match stayed largely the same – as did the competitive element.
Dele-Bashiru played all but 10 minutes and netted with 12 to go.
The midfielder outmuscled his marker as he charged on goal and showed composure to slot from the reach of Travers.
Cameron Dawson was at the centre of the final action – first tipping a speculative Ben Greenwood set piece over the bar and then producing a super reflex save to deny Jefferson Lerma from the resulting corner.
Wednesday: Stockdale (Dawson 65), Palmer, Iorfa, Henighan, Ihiekwe (Brown 64), James, Bannan (A Hunt 64), Dele-Bashiru (Galvin 80), Byers (Adeniran 64), Windass (Sow 64), Gregory (Paterson 64)
Image courtesy of AFC Bournemouth