Start came as newcomers into the division and immediately seemed like a side facing a relegation struggle given the quality in their squad. Joey Hardarsson's men had a challenging start and struggled for wins in the opening weeks despite actually playing some decent football.
They went ten games winless until an important success over Mjøndalen and the team began to gain confidence and show some more attacking prowess in the weeks to come. Another impressive win over Vålerenga moved them closer to the teams clear of the bottom three while a few interesting mid-season signings in Christian Bolanos and Mohamed El Makrini lifted both the quality of the squad and the expectations of the fans.
The team still struggled to put a few good results together and never really managed to move clear of the teams in the relegation battle. It was a battle too close to call in the final weeks and a costly 1:0 loss at direct rivals Mjøndalen left them very much in a predicament. At the end, they were left with the task of avoiding a loss at a strong Vålerenga side but were rounded routed 4:0 and that meant an immediate return to the second flight.
Start still gave a good account of themselves for the most part and narrow margins went against them and it remains to be seen whether Hardarsson will remain in charge to oversee a rebuild next season.
