Sarpsborg opened up the season with ambitions for something big and major after a sensational run in the Europa League at the end of 2018. There were again some interesting signings, even if some real quality in the squad was lost during the close season.
Yet, it proved a frustrating and inefficient start of the campaign for Geir Bakke and his side as they missed too many chances and failed to beat poor teams on regular basis early on. That quickly set them back and put them at the bottom end of the table. Indeed, they had a shocking run of just one win at the midway point and got into full crisis mode by the height of the summer.
Bakke was allowed to pretty much overhaul the squad and brought a number of new players who were expected to have immediate impact and steer the team to safety.
Indeed, Sarpsborg improved defensively in September and October and claimed a few decent wins against direct rivals that moved them out of the bottom places and with a bit of breathing space. Yet it all still boiled down to the final couple of games after a very poor loss at Kristiansund. The team eked out a couple of unconvincing draws in these games and just about kept their place in the league on the basis of superior goal difference.
Despite the relief of survival, there is no hiding that this has been a poor season all round for a team that has been going place in recent years. Bakke deserves the chance to rectify that in the close season but the squad looks too unbalanced in certain areas.
