Match report and roundup
Right, hectic first day in the EFL. I was a bit rusty, have to admit, but thanks for following along with me.
Scottish Premiership full-time scores
Dundee 1-1 Motherwell
Livingston 0-0 Aberdeen
St Johnstone 0-2 Hearts
League Two full-time scores
Accrington Stanley 3-0 Newport
Crawley 1-0 Bradford
Crewe 2-2 Mansfield Town
Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Harrogate
Forest Green 0-2 Salford
Grimsby 0-0 AFC Wimbledon
Morecambe 2-1 Walsall
Stockport 0-1 Gillingham
Sutton 5-1 Notts County
Tranmere 1-2 Barrow
Wrexham 3-5 MK Dons
League One full-time scores
Barnsley 7-0 Port Vale
Blackpool 2-0 Burton
Bolton 3-0 Lincoln
Cambridge 2-0 Oxford
Carlisle 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Charlton 1-0 Leyton Orient
Derby 1-2 Wigan
Northampton 0-1 Stevenage
Portsmouth 1-1 Bristol Rovers
Reading 0-1 Peterborough
Shrewsbury 1-0 Cheltenham
Wycombe 0-3 Exeter City
Championship full-time scores
Blackburn 2-1 West Bromw
Bristol City 1-1 Preston
Middlesbrough 0-1 Millwall
Norwich City 2-1 Hull
Plymouth Argyle 3-1 Huddersfield
Stoke City 4-1 Rotherham
Swansea 1-1 Birmingham
Watford 4-0 QPR
Goal! Stoke 4-1 Rotherham (Brown 90)
Jacob Brown punishes ten-man Rotherham.
Goal! Norwich 2-1 Hull (Idah 90+6)
Deep into one of those extended periods of added time we have some drama. Hull were 1-0 up in this game, but now look like they are heading home with a defeat thanks to Adam Idah’s late goal.
Goal! Wrexham 3-5 MK Dons (Forde 90+6)
I’m sorry, Hugh.
Goal! Wrexham 2-5 MK Dons (Harvie 90)
Fightback over. I’m blaming Jackman, don’t let Wolverine ever come back to the Racecourse.
Goal! Stockport 0-1 Gillingham 1 (McKenzie 86)
Robbie McKenzie pounces after a scramble in the Stockport box.
Updated
Goal! Bristol City 1-1 Preston (Keane 86)
Will Keane might have saved a point at Ashton Gate.
Updated
Goal! Wrexham 2-4 MK Dons (Davies 80)
Back in it? Jordan Davies gives Wrexham some hope.
Notts County are now 5-1 down, with Harry Smith getting Sutton’s latest goal.
How long are these games going to run? We’re into the last ten minutes but we’ve been told that referees will be a lot less lenient with time wasting and those lengthy periods of added time seen at the last two World Cups will be in force.
Middlesbrough 0-1 Millwall (Esse 79)
Romain Esse, who is 18, has put Millwall ahead at the Riverside. After that playoff defeat, you feel it is important for Millwall to bounce back and a win at Boro would be a decent start.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Plymouth Argyle now lead 3-1 against Huddersfield.
Updated
Some things will never look right on a vidiprinter: ‘Red card, Cafu (Rotherham 69), second bookable offence’. Is one of them.
Swansea 1-1 Birmingham (Yates 76)
Liam Cullen rolls the ball across goal for Jerry Yates 76 to level.
Goal! Plymouth 2-1 Huddersfield (Mumba 73)
Bali Mumba, great name, great goal.
Updated
Things are moving fast in League One, Barnsley are now beating Port Vale 6-0 and Wigan are back in front at Derby, where the visitors lead 2-1.
Some League Two goals and neither are good for the promoted sides. Wrexham are now 1-4 down, Jonathan Leko getting his second for MK Dons, and Sutton lead 4-0 against ten-man Notts County.
Fitba!
(Belated) update from the Scottish Premiership:
Dundee 0-1 Motherwell
Livingston 0-0 Aberdeen
St Johnstone 0-0 Hearts
There haven’t been any goals since half time, to be fair.
Simon McMahon’s email at half-time said we should be looking at the Morton v Ayr game in the Scottish Championship, there’s been eight -EIGHT – bookings so far, current score 1-1.
Updated
Goal! Bolton 2-0 Lincoln City (Adeboyejo 59)
I told you Bolton would be good.
Updated
Quick League Two update, Notts County are 0-3 down against Sutton and Salford have taken a 1-0 against Forest Green.
Goals in League One, Devante Cole has a hat-trick and Barnsley are 4-0 up against Port Vale. Cole has two since half-time. Elsewhere, Derby are back level against Wigan, it is 1-1 at whatever they’re calling Pride Park these days.
Goal! Stoke 3-1 Rotherham (Peltier 46)
Andy Brady will wish I was still forgeting about Stoke v Rotherham now.
Goal! Wrexham 1-3 MK Dons 3 (Leko 51)
Hugh Jackman’s trip to north Wales isn’t going well.
Updated
Goal! Blackburn 2-1 West Brom (Phillips 50)
Matt Phillips has given West Brom a sniff at Ewood Park, wonderful curled effort from just inside the box.
Goal! Bristol City 1-0 Preston North End (Bell 47)
We are back underway in the Championship and Sam Bell has put City ahead. Harry Cornick’s long throw is flicked on and when Nakhi Wells’ shot rebounds off the post Bell is on hand to put the ball into an empty net.
Updated
Siriki Dembele gets a shoutout from Tom Brady on Twitter X. A sentence I never thought I’d write:
Way to finish!!! @Sdembele_7 @BCFC
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) August 5, 2023
This one goes out to Andy Brady, who might be a Stoke fan, well done to the Potters for leading 3-0 at half-time against Rotherham. Huge. I failed to mention any of those goals in the first half, but Ki-Jana Hoever got the first and new man Andre Vidigal has two on debut. Maybe I should pay more attention to what’s going on at the Bet365 Stadium.
League Two half-time scores
Accrington Stanley 1-0 Newport
Crawley 1-0 Bradford City
Crewe 1-2 Mansfield Town
Doncaster 0-0 Harrogate
Forest Green 0-0 Salford
Grimsby 0-0 AFC Wimbledon
Morecambe 1-1 Walsall
Stockport County 0-0 Gillingham
Sutton United 2-0 Notts County
Tranmere Rovers 0-1 Barrow
Wrexham 1-2 MK Dons
League One half-time scores
Barnsley 2-0 Port Vale
Blackpool 2-0 Burton Albion
Bolton 1-0 Lincoln City
Cambridge 2-0 Oxford
Carlisle 1-1 Fleetwood
Charlton 1-0 Leyton Orient
Derby 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Northampton 0-0 Stevenage
Portsmouth 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Reading 0-1 Peterborough
Shrewsbury 0-0 Cheltenham
Wycombe 0-2 Exeter
Championship half-time scores
Blackburn Rovers 2-0 West Brom
Bristol City 0-0 Preston North End
Middlesbrough 0-0 Millwall
Norwich City 1-1 Hull City
Plymouth Argyle 1-1 Huddersfield
Stoke City 3-0 Rotherham United
Swansea 0-1 Birmingham City
Watford 4-0 QPR
Jeremy Boyce has emailed in to point out that I had forgotten about MK Dons second goal. It is, of course, Wrexham 1-2 MK Dons at the Racecourse. Forgive me, Dons fans.
Mary Waltz sounds concerned in her email:
Tom, early doors and all that, but are QPR that bad, are they looking at relegation?
Ask me in January, Mary.
Goal! Norwich 1-1 Hull (Rowe 45)
Jon Rowe has scored a cracker at Carrow Road, the first for Norwich at home since February.
Goal! Watford 4-0 QPR (Bayo 43)
Vakoun Bayo gets the fourth and comes close to getting the fifth, his effort from distance going just over the bar with Asmir Begović stranded.
Updated
Goal! Wrexham 1-2 MK Dons (Mendy 42)
CORRECTION! It is not all-square at the Racecourse, but Jacob Mendy has got one back. That is still Wrexham’s first Football League goal for 15 years.
Updated
Disallowed goal in the game between Boro and Millwall, Hayden Hackney slips the ball in at Matija Sarkic’s near post, but the assistant has flagged that the ball had already gone out for a goal kick. Tight.
Goal! Watford 3-0 QPR (Matheus Martins 38)
This one is over. Matheus Martins has headed home a third.
Goal! Crewe 1-2 Mansfield (Demetriou 32)
Mickey Demetriou has got one back for Crewe after Davis Keillor-Dunn had put Mansfield 2-0 up.
Quick check across League One, Portsmouth trail 0-1 at home against Bristol Rovers, Blackpool are 2-0 up against Burton Albion, Barnsley have a 1-0 lead against Port Vale thanks to Devante Cole and in the boat race, Cambridge currently lead 1-0 against Oxford.
Goals! Blackburn 2 West Brom 0 (Markanday 20 and Leonard 22)
West Brom had been the better side in this one, but now trail 0-2. Harry Leonard scoring Rovers’ second virtually straight after West Brom kicked off following Dilan Markanday’ opener.
Updated
Goal! Watford 2-0 QPR (Louza 20)
The Hornets continue to push home their advantage and Imran Louza has given them a deserved two-goal lead.
Updated
Goal! Norwich 0-1 Hull (Delap 17)
Liam, son of Rory, gets his first goal of the season. The on-loan Manchester City forward takes full advantage of a mistake from Norwich new boy Shane Duffy.
Uh oh, more woe for Notts County. Keeper Aidan Stone has been shown a straight red card after being sold short by a backpass and bringing down the striker.
Another goal in League Two, Will Wright has put Crawley Town 1-0 up against Bradford. In the National League, embattled Southend have a 1-0 lead against Oldham thanks to a Callum Powell goal at Roots Hall.
Plymouth 1-0 Huddersfield (Whittaker 6)
Plymouth are back in the Championship and have an early lead against Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield. Sue Smith on Sky saying Morgan Whittaker just wasted a good chance to double his and his side’s tally.
Updated
Goal! Wrexham 0-2 Milton Keynes Dons (Eisa 10)
Well, well, well. No Dean Lewington, no problem for the Dons. Mohamed Eisa doubles the visitors’ lead.
Updated
Maybe League Two will be harder for the newly promoted teams than we expected, or maybe we should not read too much into the first ten minutes of the season. The facts are that both Notts County and Wrexham both trail. Joe Kizzi has put Sutton United ahead against Notts County, while MK Dons lead at the Racecourse courtesy of a Eoghan O’Connell OG
Goal! Bolton 1-0 Lincoln City (Iredale 4)
Ben Fisher tipped Bolton as one to watch this season and they’re already up and running with Jack Iredale getting it.
Goals! Wycombe 0 Exeter 2 (Aitchison 1 and Aimson 4)
We have another, the first of the League One campaign goes to Jack Aitchison and that is quickly followed up with another from Will Aimson.
Updated
Goal! Watford 1-0 QPR (Dele-Bashiru)
Well, we did not have to wait long for a goal at Vicarage Road. It’s Tom Dele-Bashiru who has got it, darting into the QPR box and slotting home.
Updated
Ready for some fitba? Simon McMahon is and has emailed in:
Afternoon Tom, and all Clockwatchers. Hope everyone is well, and ready for the rollercoaster ride that is the football season. After a 2022/23 campaign from hell that resulted in relegation from the top division, Dundee United kicked off the Scottish league season last night with a thumping 4-0 win at Arbroath as they look to bounce back at the first time of asking. Promising early signs for Jim Goodwin’s reshaped squad, but let’s wait and see, one swallow does not etc.
Premiership champions (last season, though probably this season too, let’s be honest) Celtic have just beaten Ross County 4-2 in the early kick off. The other three o’clock kick offs in the Scottish Premiership are Dundee v Motherwell, Livingston v Aberdeen and St. Johnstone v Hearts, while Kilmarnock host Rangers later. Good luck to all, though not Dundee, obviously.
On Sky, Wrexham’s Ryan Reynolds was asked about Tom Brady’s investment in Birmingham City:
“I know him a little bit, but you don’t need to know him to realise he has the spirit of a lion and a competitor. I’m sure he’ll do great things with Birmingham,” said Reynolds.
Co-owner Rob McElhenney added: “I would never presume to give Tom Brady wisdom pertaining to professional sports ... if he has any advice for us, please get in touch!”
Reynolds also revealed that Hugh Jackman, who is at the game today, is a Norwich fan like new Soccer Saturday host Thomas.
Postponement alert!
Have you ever heard of this before? Colchester v Swindon has been called off on the first day of the new season due to a waterlogged pitch at the JobServe Community Stadium. Back round the M25 for Town fans.
Elsewhere, the transfer window rumbles on… There have been a few big deals confirmed this morning. The conveyor belt from Brighton to Chelsea continues to keep moving, but Moises Caicedo is not on it, yet. Today is the turn of keeper Rob Sanchez to make the well trodden path from the south coast to west London, with Chelsea paying £25m.
There were also two big deals done in Manchester. Rasmus Højlund has signed a five-year contract to move to Old Trafford after United and Atalanta agreed a £72m deal – an initial £64m with a further £8m in add-ons. At City, Josko Gvardiol has completed his move from RB Leipzig, signing a five-year deal after a fee believed to be €90m (£77.6m) was agreed.
You can also read Ben’s guides to League One, here:
And League Two here:
If you’re looking for a guide the new season in the EFL, may I recommend my colleague Ben Fisher’s cheat sheets. Here is Ben’s look ahead to the Championship:
Jeff Stelling may be gone, but Clinton Morrison is still there and for that we should all be grateful.
Big day in the Sky studio, new host for Soccer Saturday is Blue Peter legend Simon Thomas:
It's the start of a new era for Soccer Saturday with Simon Thomas as host! ✨
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) August 5, 2023
🗣️ "It is an absolute honour to host this brilliant show! If I can do half the job that the legend Jeff Stelling did over the last 25 years, I will have done something right!" pic.twitter.com/8Tvx7Olv0M
On a personal note, I am gutted to see that Dean Lewington is not in the MK Dons squad for this one. He had been struggling with an injury in preseason, but it is about time they built Dean a statue in my eyes.
For all of you in North Wales and North America, here is how Wrexham line up:
TEAM NEWS | Wrexham vs MK Dons
— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) August 5, 2023
Dalby and Waters lead the line on our EFL return!
🔴⚪️ #WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/L1TIjgJ7dT
Intrigue in Carrick’s first team sheet, last season’s top scorer, Chuba Akpom is on the bench:
Time for the #Boro teamsheet 📄@unibet #UTB pic.twitter.com/02aN1EkypX
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) August 5, 2023
Preamble
It is a curious quirk of the Championship fixture list, or more accurately the demands of Sky, that none of the teams relegated from the Premier League last season are in action on the first Saturday of the season.
Southampton got off to a winning start last night at Sheffield Wednesday, while title favourites Leicester and Leeds, who start the season under new ownership, play tomorrow.
This gives Middlesbrough, who finished last season so strongly under the guidance of Michael Carrick, a chance to show how they measure up against the beaten playoff finalists, Millwall.
Swansea impressed so much under Russell Martin that he left for Saints. The Swans host Birmingham City with all eyes on the director’s box to see if the Blues’ new minority owner Tom Brady will make an appearance (unlikely).
In League One there are some intriguing opening day matchups, with Portsmouth v Bristol Rovers the most intriguing. Two sides with strong squads who are tipped to challenge at the top of the table this season.
In League Two, Wrexham mark their return to the Football League by hosting a MK Dons squad that still includes club legend Dean Lewington, who is set to feature in his 20th campaign.
