Stabæk ran out 4:2 winners against Ranheim at Nadderud in the first division regular season on Wednesday evening. The hosts took control early and never looked back, though the visitors found the net twice after the break to keep things interesting.
And here's the thing about the opening exchanges — Stabæk struck twice in quick succession. M. Dahlby opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute before M. Sylva doubled the advantage two minutes later. Ranheim had a chance to respond but it was Stabæk who extended the lead, A. Fossli finding the net in the thirty-third minute and A. Matic adding a fourth six minutes later.
By then the match was already slipping away from the visitors. The hosts kept pushing, Matic completing his brace in the fifty-eighth minute. Ranheim pulled one back through A. Sanyang in the eighty-second minute, but it came too late to change the outcome.
There were plenty of changes on both sides. H. Gangstad was replaced at the break, while Ranheim made three substitutions in the sixty-first minute — F. Nyenetue, A. Fossli and A. Aamodt all came on. Stabæk brought on S. Sjovold in the seventy-fifth minute, and Matic was among the last to be substituted in the seventy-seventh.
The statistics tell their own story. Stabæk dominated possession at 54 per cent and registered 109 attacks compared to Ranheim's 93. The hosts had ten shots on target with fourteen off target, while the visitors managed five on target and nine off target. Both sides received one yellow card each.
The result keeps Stabæk sitting third on 42 points from 20 games, while Ranheim remain tenth with 23 points. The hosts have won 13 matches this season and are closing in on the automatic promotion places, while Ranheim have lost 11 and are fighting to avoid the drop.
