Ranheim v Sandnes ULF — prediction, stats and goal analysis

1. Division · Sunday, 31 May 2026. Final score 5–1 (half-time 3–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 65% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals65%35%Over
Over 3.5 goals41%59%no pick
Both teams to score61%39%Yes

The result model puts Ranheim at 63%, the draw at 20% and Sandnes ULF at 17%, from expected goals of 2.24 and 1.09.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. 1. Division has produced over 2.5 goals in 65% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Ranheim have 7 in 8 this season (3 of 4 at home), Sandnes ULF 3 in 9 (1 of 4 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 71% and 56%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 8 and 9 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 68% and 56%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 63%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 65%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 65%, from expected goals of 2.24 for Ranheim and 1.09 for Sandnes ULF. Folding in 30% of that view gives 65%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Ranheim888%75%75%
Sandnes ULF933%22%44%

Head to head

2 Nov 24Sandnes ULF 2–6 RanheimO2.5
6 Apr 24Ranheim 3–1 Sandnes ULFO2.5
5 Nov 23Sandnes ULF 3–2 RanheimO2.5
8 Jul 23Ranheim 0–5 Sandnes ULFO2.5
3 Oct 22Ranheim 1–2 Sandnes ULFO2.5
10 Jul 22Sandnes ULF 3–2 RanheimO2.5

More: Ranheim season stats · Sandnes ULF season stats · 1. Division table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.