Problema con query, ordinamento e limit

[botmite]

Ciao a tutti!
Sto utilizzando uno script trovato in rete per la paginazione di risultati in ajax e php; tutto funziona perfettamente tranne che non riesco a visualizzare in modo corretto i dati prelevati dal database.

L'errore sta sicuramente nell'ordinamento della query che preleva i dati, ma non capisco come modificarla:

  if($_POST['page'])
{
$page = $_POST['page'];
$cur_page = $page;
$page -= 1;
$per_page = 5;
$previous_btn = true;
$next_btn = true;
$first_btn = true;
$last_btn = true;
$start = $page * $per_page;

mysql_select_db($database_config, $config);
$query_datascored = "SELECT f_matchevents.eplayer_id, sum(ecount) as count, f_player.playerName, f_player.playerID  FROM f_matchevents, f_player WHERE f_matchevents.eplayer_id = f_player.id AND f_matchevents.dt_id = ($tournamentID) AND  f_matchevents.eautogol=0 GROUP BY f_matchevents.eplayer_id ORDER BY count DESC LIMIT $start, $per_page";
$datascored = mysql_query($query_datascored, $config) or die(mysql_error());
$row_datascored = mysql_fetch_assoc($datascored); 

$msg = "";?>

<?php while ($row_datascored = mysql_fetch_assoc($datascored)) { 
      
        $msg .= '<tr class="on">
     <td class="value">'.$row_datascored['count'].'</td>
     <td class="l_player"><a href="http://sofifa.com/player/'.$row_datascored['playerID'].'" target="_new">'
      .$row_datascored['playerName'].
       '</a></td>
     <td class="r_club">
     <a href="playerscore.php?recordID='.$row_datascored['eplayer_id'].'&recordID2='. $tournamentID.'"><img src="images/stats.png" width="18" height="18" alt="Dettagli" /></a>
     </td>
     </tr>'    
    ;} ?>
      
<?php     $msg = "<table class='sortTable'><div class='data'><ul>" . $msg . "</ul></div></table>";?>

        
<?php mysql_select_db($database_config, $config);
$query_countdatascored = sprintf("SELECT f_matchevents.eplayer_id, sum(ecount) as count, f_player.playerName, f_player.playerID  FROM f_matchevents, f_player WHERE f_matchevents.eplayer_id = f_player.id AND f_matchevents.dt_id = ($tournamentID) AND  f_matchevents.eautogol=0 GROUP BY f_matchevents.eplayer_id");
$countdatascored = mysql_query($query_countdatascored, $config) or die(mysql_error());
$row_countdatascored = mysql_fetch_assoc($countdatascored);
$totalRows_countdatascored = mysql_num_rows($countdatascored);

$no_of_paginations = ceil($totalRows_countdatascored / $per_page);

/* ---------------Calculating the starting and endign values for the loop----------------------------------- */
if ($cur_page >= 7) {
    $start_loop = $cur_page - 3;
    if ($no_of_paginations > $cur_page + 3)
        $end_loop = $cur_page + 3;
    else if ($cur_page <= $no_of_paginations && $cur_page > $no_of_paginations - 6) {
        $start_loop = $no_of_paginations - 6;
        $end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
    } else {
        $end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
    }
} else {
    $start_loop = 1;
    if ($no_of_paginations > 7)
        $end_loop = 7;
    else
        $end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
}
/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
$msg .= "<div class='pagination'><ul>";

// ENABLE THE PREVIOUS BUTTON
if ($previous_btn && $cur_page > 1) {
    $pre = $cur_page - 1;
    $msg .= "<li p='$pre' class='active'><img src='images/Previous.gif' width='15' height='15' /></li>";
} else if ($previous_btn) {
    $msg .= "<li class='inactive'><img src='images/Previous.gif' width='15' height='15' /></li>";
}

// ENABLE THE NEXT BUTTON
if ($next_btn && $cur_page < $no_of_paginations) {
    $nex = $cur_page + 1;
    $msg .= "<li p='$nex' class='active'><img src='images/Next.gif' width='15' height='15' /></li>";
} else if ($next_btn) {
    $msg .= "<li class='inactive'><img src='images/Previous.gif' width='15' height='15' /></li>";
}

echo $msg;
}

In questo caso dovrebbero essere visualizzati 5 risultati per ogni pagina, ma in pratica il primo record di ogni pagina viene saltato. Questo succede nonostante la variabile $start, posizionata dopo il LIMIT all'interno della query, abbia valore 0.

Perchè?