Stabæk started the season with little expectation of major success after basically keeping the core of their square from last season and their coach, having managed to survive after a strong end of the previous campaign.
They had a pretty solid start and lost only to Molde and Rosenborg in the opening 11 games of the season, showing some decent attacking football while always staying compact and assured in defence.
The young duo of Emil Bohinen and Hugo Vetlesen emerged as real leaders of the team, showing creativity and nous, while Andreas Hanche-Olsen had a superb campaign too at the heart of defence, proving leadership and assurance. That gave the team a very good base to build on and they were one of the better teams in the first half of the season, even if they never really attached themselves to the top band of teams.
Yet, wins started to come less and less often as the season progressed, with the lack of reliable scorer up front proving a real achilles heel of this team. They went on a run of seven games without a victory in August and September and then on another four-game winless streak later in the season.
However, there was never really a threat for Stabæk to slide down the table and they seemed pretty relaxed in the final stages of the season, getting the odd good result while not showing too much motivation.
Overall, it was a case of job well done for Jan Jansson and his side but they face losing some of their young gems again in the close season and it remains to be seen if there excellent academy keeps churning new players for the first-team to keep them steady in mid-table.
