SEVEN games, no wins and just three points. It doesn’t make good reading for Basingstoke Town fans.

In fact, in case you needed depressing any more, I’m duty-bound to inform you that the Dragons have never had fewer points at this point in the season in the Conference South era.

Only once in the last 11 years have they mustered just three points from their opening seven games, back in 2006-07, when they spent the entire season battling the drop and only avoided relegation on the final day.

Not sure I’m helping really.

The good news is that I believe things will get better.

It’s a bit of a flimsy excuse, but if you look at the National League South table, you will see that the top four teams, Bath City, Ebbsfleet United, Gosport Borough and Oxford City, are sides that Town have already played.

So, in terms of opposition, you could say that they have been dealt a difficult set of opening fixtures. It’s not an argument that manager Jason Bristow would ever make, while Town should be competing with these sides if they want to challenge near the top of the table, but it’s worth bearing in mind.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that things might have been a lot different. It could be argued that Basingstoke deserved a point from their trip to Ebbsfleet on the opening day, though I thought that the Kent side just about edged proceedings.

However, they certainly could have got something from their game against Bath a few days later, while only an outstanding display of goalkeeping stopped them beating Margate.

Monday’s defeat at home to Gosport was also harsh on Town, who certainly deserved a point and might have had all three on another day.

That’s somewhere between five and eight additional points that Basingstoke could have in the bag by now. Still not a fantastic start to the season, but they’d be a lot closer to the teams they want to compete against.

However, the fact of the matter is that they haven’t got 11 or even eight points, though it is hard to put your finger on what is going wrong.

Pretty much the same squad were outstanding last season, finishing third in the table, so what has changed?

The answer may be not enough, and that is certainly the view of people I have spoken to at matches. They feel that Bristow should have brought in more players over the summer.

Even successful squads need freshening up at times. Just look at the position Chelsea find themselves in at the moment.

The current situation also reminds me of the last time that Town reached the play-offs. The squad stayed the same and the following season was a bit of a struggle.

Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Bristow would be under the microscope just as much if he had made changes, assuming the season had started in the same way.

Some supporters are going overboard, saying that six or seven players, some of them first-team regulars last year, should have been culled.

For me, that would not have been the right move. During pre-season, I felt that two or three players could have been allowed to leave, assuming suitable replacements could be found.

When I say suitable, I mean players who would have improved Bristow’s first-choice team. However, if you are looking to improve a team that finished third in the league, such players may be hard to come by, particularly as Town do not have the resources to match some of the division’s big spenders.

Letting established players leave without having anyone lined up to replace them would have been a really big gamble, so it is understandable that Bristow stuck with the players who had served him so well last year.

The recent Matt Partridge episode shows that Bristow is still looking for reinforcements. It also sums up Basingstoke’s current lack of fortune. Just as it looked like Bristow had secured a really good player, he was offered the chance to return to the Football League.

Going back to the reasons behind the slow start, scoring goals has been a major problem. Town have not found the back of the net in any of their last three games, scoring just four goals in their first seven outings.

At times, this has been down to a bit of misfortune. Nikki Bull was in incredible form for Margate, keeping out at least two efforts he had no right to save, while the Bath and Gosport goalkeepers also had good games against Town.

However, on other occasions, Basingstoke have not done enough in the final third. Sometimes their final ball has not been good enough, while in other instances it has been down to some wayward finishing.

Either way, it’s an issue that needs addressing, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Bristow is thinking of nothing else but how to turn things around.

If you have not already read his column in this week’s Gazette, it’s worth having a look at when it comes online this afternoon. Bristow’s passion for the club shines through as he reflects on what is happening and puts out a heartfelt plea for supporters to back his team.

Having seen him at work for the last few years, I have confidence that Bristow can change Town’s fortunes. They need a win, sooner rather than later, but once they get one, more will surely follow.

Basingstoke’s poor start has left them 11 points outside the top five. It’s a long way back, but anything is still possible. Back in 2012, they found themselves in a similar position, but with less than half of the season remaining. Bristow managed to lead them to the play-offs that year, and he’ll be plotting to do the same thing again this time around.