Sandefjord TIF — Fjellhammer IL, Club Friendly

Sandefjord TIF fell to Fjellhammer 23:28 in a club friendly on Thursday evening. The hosts had been playing more than once against Bergen in April, winning one and losing three of those five games. By then the pattern was already there — results bouncing between 26 and 32 for Sandefjord, with losses to Elkervum coming thick and fast for the visitors. And here's the thing about handball friendlies: you watch the shape, not just the scoreboard. The scoreline tells you Fjellhammer carried the side, while Sandefjord had nothing to do all evening after the opening exchanges. Three goals down by the end would have been the difference, though the margin doesn't tell the whole story. To be fair, both sides have been grinding through fixtures. Sandefjord's last five showed inconsistency — a win against Kristiansand, losses to Arental and Sandnes, plus that 31:37 defeat to Bergen. Fjellhammer's recent run was worse, three losses to Elkervum in April before their 28:14 victory over Sandnes in March. The visitors got their substitutions spot on, moving the game into channels Sandefjord couldn't close. The relationship between attack and defence looked frayed for the hosts, especially when Fjellhammer started working the channels. Three or four moments decided it, not the total count. The table goes out of the window in these games, but you can still see the trajectory. Sandefjord's run came to an end here, while Fjellhammer extended something — not a winning streak, exactly, but a sense that they're finding their feet. That's all a friendly can give you, and sometimes that's enough.