Troja/Ljungby beat Dalen 3:1 in a club friendly on Tuesday evening. The result follows their 3:0 victory just three weeks earlier, and extends a comfortable upper hand in recent meetings. The hosts had hoped to turn things around after that earlier defeat, but the pattern held.
And here's the thing — this was never going to be a test of form. Troja/Ljungby have been grinding through results lately, winning 3:2 against Boras before dropping 3:4 in their next outing. Dalen came into this looking for something different, but the visitors showed they hadn't forgotten what worked last time.
To be fair, the scoreline tells only part of the story. You don't get a full picture from a friendly, not when teams are still finding their rhythm. But the three goals were enough. Troja/Ljungby's attack looked sharper than it has in recent weeks, and Dalen's defensive shape was nowhere near tight enough.
By then, the relationship between these two clubs had developed an edge. Three weeks ago Dalen went down 0:3. This time they lost 1:3. The difference is marginal, but the message stays the same — Troja/Ljungby have Dalen's number right now.
What it means for both sides is hard to say. Troja/Ljungby are on a good run of late, and this adds another confidence booster. Dalen have work to do. They've now lost two matches to the same opponent in as many months, and the gap between them is clear enough without needing statistics to prove it.