Are Grove set for another poor start?

Two defeats in the opening two matches have led to grumbling amongst the Grove faithful who have high expectations for the coming campaign.  At KAFC Online, we have taken a look back over past few seasons to see how Athletic generally fair in the early games, and it makes for pretty grim reading.

The table below shows results for the first ten league games of each season - 50 in total -  from which Kidsgrove have only managed eight wins (four of these were in matches 7 to 10 last year) and 44 points.

It's now four years since Athletic won a game in August - a 3-1 win over Brigg Town in the first match of the 2012/13 season under Shaun Hollinshead.  Over the seasons we are looking at, we have seen different managers and teams that were both considered very strong and very weak on paper, yet no combination has been able to deliver a firm foundation on which to build the season.

With losses to Belper Town and Witton Albion, unfortunately this year already looks to be heading down a similar route.