It became clear very quickly that Trelleborgs just weren't ready for a return to the top flight. Having finished third in the Superettan the year previously, they manage to brush aside Jonkopings Sodra in the relegation play off simply because of the rut their opponents were in at the time. Because they were never out of the bottom three and finish the season on a terrible 15 points from the 30 games, with a goal difference of minus 40. Spare a thought for goalkeeper Marko Johansson who had to pick the ball out of the net 61 times in 29 games, with his colleague Dennis Petersson faring little better in his one game between the sticks, a 3-0 home defeat against Djurgarden.
In the spring there was a little bit of optimism, once both Malmo and Norrkoping had been beaten, and Trelleborgs can at least say that they denied Norrkoping the title having taken four points from them. But the optimism of the first ten fixtures evaporated very quickly, and the writing was on the wall as early as July when they were hit for six in a 6-1 home drubbing against GIF Sundsvall, a side that many believed would be one of Trelleborgs's nearest relegation rivals but proved to be anything but.
Injuries to key players really hampered their build up to their Allsvenskan return, and veteran striker Salif Camara-Jonsson just wasn't able to do enough once he was back from injury. Deniz Hummet did his best to lead the line too, but the lack of quality was evident very early on. More alarmingly was how easy heads dropped once they fell behind, and there were plenty of really embarrassing occasions where it looked like they had given up. The belief just wasn't there and the whole season turned into a nightmare the club will do well to recover from quickly.
It's time to take stock back in the Superettan, try and get some wins under their belt, get some fresh faces and move on from this shambolic campaign. And while it's not necessarily a start from scratch job, it must surely be close to it, with each player having to be assessed to see what damage this campaign has caused them. Hopefully there will be little permanent damage, but more a desire to right the wrongs of 2018 when the club feel ready again to mount a title challenge.
