Odd started the season on the back of a pretty quiet transfer period and with not much excitement surrounding their prospects. Yet, they kicked off the campaign with dramatic and highly encouraging win over a good side like Brann and that paved the wave for the success for the remainder of the season.
As usual, Odd were very reliable at home and they dropped a point in front of their fans all season, getting some excellent results and putting team on the back foot with their speedy play on the wings and smart press.
Torgeri Borben was the undoubted revelation of the season as the forward played the best football of his career after a number of barren years and the manager reportedly giving up on him prior to the start of the season. Yet, an injury in attack forced Dag Elief Fagermo to play Borven as a number nine and he ended up the campaign with 21 goals, not missing a single game after struggling with injuries for a long time before that.
There were numerous other bright spots in a very good campaign for the team from Skien as Odon Bjoruft emerged as a revelation in the back or in defensive midfield when needed while Sander Svendsen was also superb in the first half of the season before being recalled by his parent club. Odd remained deep in the title race until the latter stages of the season but results away from home and injuries began to have more of an impact. Indeed, Odd dropped down to third and lost sight of leaders Molde by the start of the autumn.
That said, the team battled through these problems and a thin squad to keep on winning at home and looked a lock-in for a European slot. But things took a turn for the worse in the final few games as loss at Brann meant that they needed a good result at Haugesund on the final game of the season to finish above Rosenborg. Yet, a 2:1 loss in that game meant that they missed out on the slimmest of margins and have no tangible reward for what has been a really good and encouraging season.
Still Fagermo will look to focus on the positives and he has the nucleus of a very promising squad that could become much better next season with a few additions.
