Odd Grenland defender Nat Borchers believes their late season swoon was an anomaly, and says the club proved that with a 10-1 aggregate demolition of promotion/relegation playoff whipping boys Bryne.

The Skien boys closed the season on fumes, earning but one point in their final eight matches, but put the paddle to their Adeccoligaen opponents in the postseason.

Borchers says the emphatic nature of their two-leg victory alleviated a lot of stress around the club; Odd spent many years struggling in the lower divisions, but have remained in the top flight continuously since 1999.

"I'm very proud of our result against Bryne in the promotion/relegation playoff," the US international told YA. "We had an enormous amount of pressure on us in that game."

"The week before those games I couldn't walk around Skien without someone from the town coming up to me and either wishing me well on the game or criticizing our team's play."

"In those games, we were able to keep our mistakes to a minimum and finish our scoring chances - something we hadn't been able to do previously."

The former Colorado Rapid insists that the horrid finish to the regular term was not indicative of the real Odd Grenland, the one that spent much of the season battling for a Royal League place.

"Of course, I believe the second half of the season was an aberration! I think we actually played better in the second half of the season than in the first," opined Borchers. "It was just one or two mistakes that made the difference in those games."

"For example, our best player scored an own goal with just five minutes remaining in the last game of the regular season."

"If we had just held on five more minutes, we never would have had that playoff with Bryne. In the first half of the season we didn't make mistakes like that."

For now, Borchers will enjoy his offseason, but promised he'd be back in Grenland for next season.

"I haven't heard from any other clubs this year," he reported. "I've only been here one year and I feel like I have a lot to improve on as a player here before I have the opportunity to make any significant moves to bigger clubs."

"However, one of the best things about playing soccer Europe is that there are so many opportunities."