Here’s today’s Championship roundup.
It’s back, and it was as unpredictable as ever, with Norwich losing to Cardiff, and then losing their captain in Grant Hanley to a second yellow and talisman Teemu Pukki to injury. Better news for Derby in League One, the new regime celebrating that maiden win over Oxford. Stockport’s dream return did not come off but there were signs of life in their second-half revival before losing 3-2 to Barrow. Sheffield Wednesday 3-3 Portsmouth seemed to have it all but a late winner. Hull found one in Jean Michael Seri’s injury-time strike against Bristol. It was all just as you remembered. Full roundup to follow later.
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Simon McMahon reports back: “90th minute equaliser for Killie. Typical. Finished 1-1 v United. Very late winner for Hibs at St. Johnstone. Hearts held on to win 2-1 v Ross County. Love the clockwatch, John. Must be pretty crazy to do. Glad to have it back, like it’s never been away! Cheers.”
You make it easier, Simon.
League Two scores
- AFC Wimbledon 2-0 Gillingham
- Bradford 0-0 Doncaster
- Carlisle 1-0 Crawley
- Harrogate Town 3-0 Swindon
- Leyton Orient 2-0 Grimsby
- Northampton 3-2 Colchester
- Rochdale 1-2 Crewe
- Salford City 2-0 Mansfield
- Stockport County 2-3 Barrow
- Sutton 1-1 Newport
- Tranmere 1-2 Stevenage
- Walsall 4-0 Hartlepool
League One scores
- Accrington Stanley 2-2 Charlton
- Bristol Rovers 1-2 Forest Green
- Cambridge Utd 1-0 Milton Keynes Dons
- Cheltenham 2-3 Peterborough
- Derby 1-0 Oxford
- Ipswich 1-1 Bolton
- Lincoln City 1-1 Exeter
- Morecambe 0-0 Shrewsbury
- Plymouth 1-0 Barnsley
- Port Vale 2-1 Fleetwood
- Sheff Wed 3-3 Portsmouth
- Wycombe 3-0 Burton Albion
Scottish Premiership final scores
- Hearts 2-1 Ross County
- Kilmarnock 1-1 Dundee Utd
- Livingston 1-2 Rangers
- St Johnstone 0-1 Hibernian
Championship final scores
- Blackpool 1-0 Reading
- Cardiff City 1-0 Norwich City
- Rotherham 1-1 Swansea City
- Blackburn Rovers 1-0 QPR
- Luton Town 0-0 Birmingham City
- Hull City 2-1 Bristol City
- Wigan Athletic 0-0 Preston
- Millwall 2-0 Stoke City
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Derby have beaten Oxford 1-0, a big win in the new Clowes regime, and under the new management of Liam Rosenior. It’s finished 3-3 between Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth. Heck of a second half there.
Goal! Hull 2-1 Bristol City (Seri, 90+3)
The former Fulham players has scored the winner and Shota Arveladze has a maiden win as Hull boss.
In that early-season classic at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday have just had Lee Gregory send off. It’s 3-3 with Portsmouth.
Forest Green, the promoted team, have just scored against Bristol Rovers, and that looks to be their first ever win in League One.
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Simon McMahon gets back in touch: “Still all to play for in the Scottish Premiership, John. United still leading 1-0 but having to play the final 20 minutes with ten men at Kilmarnock after Ian Harkes’ second yellow card. Hearts lead Ross County 2-1 and St. Johnstone and Hibs is still goalless. Nailbiting stuff, and it’s only day one.”
Update: Dundee United ended up drawing 1-1.
Red card for Grant Hanley of Norwich!
A second yellow for the Norwich captain, and after Teemu Pukki limped off, the Canaries’ flight back to the Premier League looks troubled to say the least. They are still losing 1-0 to Cardiff.
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Red card for Ched Evans of Preston!
The striker had just come on against Wigan, and clatters into Curtis Tilt during the Lancashire derby.
Derby’s new regime may be off to a flying start, as they lead 1-0, through Conor Hourihane. Also in League One, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru has just scored his second as Sheffield Wednesday equalise, and it’s 3-3 with Portsmouth.
Harrogate lead Swindon 3-0. Long road home to the Old Town for the faithful.
All may not be lost on Stockport’s jamboree day. It’s now 2-3 at Edgeley Park with Barrow after Paddy Madden’s goal, and there’s a grandstand finish in store.
Goal! Hull 1-1 Bristol City (Turan, 72 pen)
On his debut, the Turkish international slots home what looked a ropey penalty.
Red card for Cardiff!
Perry Ng is off. It’s been a bad-tempered match with Norwich but it’s the home team who go down to ten men.
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Accrington are now level with Charlton, it’s 1-1 in League One, with Sean McConville on target.
Cheltenham were 2-0 up on Peterborough but the scores are now level at 2-2, after Jonson Clarke-Harris’ goal.
Leyton Orient have doubled their lead on Grimsby with a Tom James screamer.
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Portsmouth now lead 3-2 at Sheffield Wednesday, with Colby Bishop getting Pompey’s third goal of the second half. Darren Moore staring down the barrel of defeat to his old club.
Goal! Millwall 2-0 Stoke (Cresswell, 65)
Charlie Cresswell gets his second and the Lions roar once more.
Humdinger at Hillsborough, and Michael Jacobs has equalised for Portsmouth, a second equaliser, and it’s 2-2. Elsewhere in League One, Forest Green have scored their first ever goal in that division, Jordan Moore-Taylor notching against Bristol Rovers.
Grimsby’s return to the Football League sees them 1-0 down at Leyton Orient, and George Moncur has slotted a penalty, a first for a while for the 0’s.
Harrogate are now 2-0 up on Swindon, a bad start for rookie manager Scott Lindsey.
Sheffield Wednesday have been pegged back by Danny Cowley’s Portsmouth, and Connor Ogilvie’s header has silenced Hillsborough...but has it?....Wednesday have gone back ahead, with Fisayo Dele-Bashiru getting.
Simon McMahon on the Scottish scene: “A slow start to the Scottish Premiership, but Dylan Levitt has woken up the Dundee United fans at Kilmarnock just before half time with a superb strike from distance to give United the lead. Goalless in the other two games. In the Scottish Championship, Partick lead Dundee 2-0 at Dens and Cove are in front at home against Raith.”
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Goal! Cardiff 1-0 Norwich (Sawyers, 49)
It had been coming, Norwich looking so sluggish in the first half and Romaine Sawyers scores a goal he celebrates with gusto. The pressure on already for Norwich?
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League One and League Two half-time scores
League One
- Accrington Stanley 0-1 Charlton
- Bristol Rovers 0-0 Forest Green
- Cambridge Utd 1-0 Milton Keynes Dons
- Cheltenham 2-0 Peterborough
- Derby 0-0 Oxford
- Ipswich 1-1 Bolton
- Lincoln City 0-1 Exeter
- Morecambe 0-0 Shrewsbury
- Plymouth 1-0 Barnsley
- Port Vale 2-1 Fleetwood
- Sheff Wed 1-0 Portsmouth
- Wycombe 3-0 Burton Albion
League Two
- AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Gillingham
- Bradford 0-0 Doncaster
- Carlisle 1-0 Crawley
- Harrogate Town 1-0 Swindon
- Leyton Orient 0-0 Grimsby
- Northampton 1-1 Colchester
- Rochdale 0-2 Crewe
- Salford City 2-0 Mansfield
- Stockport County 0-3 Barrow
- Sutton 1-1 Newport
- Tranmere 0-1 Stevenage
- Walsall 2-0 Hartlepool
Championship and Scottish Premiership half-time scores
Championship
- Blackpool 1-0 Reading
- Cardiff City 0-0 Norwich City
- Rotherham 1-1 Swansea City
- Blackburn Rovers 1-0 QPR
- Luton Town 0-0 Birmingham City
- Hull City 0-1 Bristol City
- Wigan Athletic 0-0 Preston North End
- Millwall 1-0 Stoke City
Scottish Premiership
- Hearts 0-0 Ross County
- Kilmarnock 0-1 Dundee Utd
- Livingston 1-2 Rangers (final score)
- St Johnstone 0-0 Hibernian
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Harrogate lead Swindon 1-0, their goal scored by Alex Patterson, presumably not the wooly-hatted ambient guru behind A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld.
Relief at Ipswich, as Lee Evans equalises against Bolton, 1-1.
Goal! Rotherham 1-1 Swansea (Darling, 38)
The new signing, Harry Darling, who signed from MK Dons this summer, has scored from long range to level matters at the New York Stadium.
Charlton, of whom not much is expected from fans, have just taken the lead at Accrington through Scott Fraser.
Scott Broon thought this management game was easy, in his first game as Fleetwood manager, and they took an early lead, and yet Port Vale now lead. A harsh first half so far for the Celtic legend.
Barrow are now 3-0 up on Stockport. The party is being gatecrashed. Billy Waters has got the third, and Barrow are flying.
Goal! Blackburn 1-0 QPR (Travis, 34)
A fine strike from a rare scorer and welcome to the Championship, Michael Beale.
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Goal! Hull 0-1 Bristol City (Weimann, 30)
Weimann, such a dangerous player in the second tier, has breached Hull’s defences.
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Wycombe are 3-0 up on Burton now, and it looks as if Gareth Ainsworth’s heavy metallers are on course for promotion, while Jimmy Floyd’s team are mathematically relegated. Josh Scowen has just scored a cracker.
Ipswich, seemingly mired in League One for decades now, are 1-0 down to Bolton, having conceded a penalty that Aaron Morley converted. Salford’s new dawn continues under Neil Wood, they are now 2-0 up on Mansfield.
Barrow continue to ruin Stockport’s happy return, they are now 2-0 up, Ben Whitfield getting the second. They, alongside Wycombe, 2-0 up on Burton, are the day’s brightest starters.
Goal! Rotherham 1-0 Swansea (Ogbene, 16)
It came against the run of play, and expectation, the promoted team are leading through Chiedozie Ogbene.
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Norwich seem to be struggling to impose themselves against Cardiff, where it’s still 0-0. That’s a team whose par in the Championship is 90-points-plus.
Millwall 1-0 Stoke (Cresswell, 12)
A crashing header, and the Lions roar early, after fine work by George Honeyman.
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Blackpool 1-0 Reading (Connolly, 8)
The first goal in the Championship comes via the Tangerines’ Callum Connolly.
Sheffield Wednesday have an early goal, they lead Portsmouth 1-0 after a Marvin Johnson goal. The road back to the Championship starts here for the Owls.
Two early goals in League Two, and Salford have an early lead on Mansfield, through Callum Hendry. Carlisle lead Crawley 1-0, the scorer Kristian Dennis.
Bad news for Stockport, back after 11 years, and losing at Edgeley Park to Josh Gordon’s goal for Barrow.
Cardiff have made a good start at home to Norwich. Wigan and Preston is lively already in a Lancashire derby.
But first, to Scotland, and one of our regular correspondents, the excellent Simon McMahon.
Afternoon John! Afternoon Clockwatchers! It’s the big kick-off in Scotland today too. Rangers squeezed past Livingston in the early kick-off, but all eyes are on Rugby Park In Kilmarnock where Jack Ross’s Dundee United face last years Championship winners. The Terrors finished fourth last season, qualifying for Europe for the first time in a decade (where they will face Holland’s AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League 3rd qualifying round), so will be looking for a confidence boosting three points today. Summer signings Dylan Levitt, Steven Fletcher, Craig Sibbald and Marco Birighitti all start for United. Hearts v Ross County and St. Johnstone v Hibs are the other games, while champions Celtic start against Aberdeen tomorrow.
And away we go in the EFL...
The Hopes and dreams, fears and uncertainties of pre-season can be abandoned now. For this is reality...and in Scotland, too.
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Ewan Murray’s preseason preview points to Celtic continuing their dominance. They play Aberdeen tomorrow at Celtic Park.
Celtic have earned their right to feature in the Champions League proper but to what extent they can compete will prove a stern test not only of the manager but of players who have hero status at home. Postecoglou’s own aspirations will not end in Glasgow; he will view Europe’s premier club tournament as an opportunity.
Here’s that Rangers report.
David Martindale’s side resolutely defended their lead as the Gers pressure grew in intensity into the second half. But Rangers substitute Scott Arfield levelled with a glancing header in the 72nd minute before captain Tavernier quickly curled in a free-kick to the relief of the away fans whose nerves were frayed.
Scottish Premiership fixtures
- Hearts v Ross County
- Kilmarnock v Dundee Utd
- Livingston 1-2 Rangers
- St Johnstone v Hibernian
- St Mirren v Motherwell
Report to follow on a late-arriving win for Rangers at Livi.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 30, 2022
Pre-season news, should you be interested. Arsenal are now going to win the Premier League after smoshing Sevilla in the Emirates Cup.
🔥 𝗛𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝟱! 🔥
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 30, 2022
🔴 6-0 ⚫️ (FT) pic.twitter.com/bE5gzzkDLB
Manchester United are going to be relegated after losing to Atlético Madrid, who scored a late goal through João Felix, and Fred has been red-carded late on. Christian Eriksen made his debut.
It just looks right 😎
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 30, 2022
🔴 @ChrisEriksen8 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/JhMWjGZFV9
More from the excellent Ben Fisher. QPR are under the new management of Michael Beale, who has worked at Chelsea, Liverpool, Rangers, and latterly Aston Villa. He’s highly regarded and his new team take on Blackburn today.
From Bromley to Blackburn, where on Saturday Beale will take charge of his first game as a first-team manager after working as an assistant to Steven Gerrard at Rangers and, more recently, Aston Villa. Beale loved his three years in Glasgow, though he lived out in the sticks. “After the Covid lockdown, after not seeing people for months, we won the league, and then when I went out things were a lot different. I got sent off in the Old Firm which put my face more in the public domain, shall we say?” The 41-year-old grins.
Before that, he worked in the academies at Liverpool and Chelsea, and spent six months as an assistant to Rogério Ceni at São Paulo. Beale turned down “five or six” managerial opportunities in England, Scotland and abroad but had a different answer when the call came from QPR in May. “Steven always knew we would get to that day,” Beale says. “After the move to Aston Villa, I just felt overly ready.”
League One fixtures
- Accrington Stanley v Charlton
- Bristol Rovers v Forest Green
- Cambridge Utd v Milton Keynes Dons
- Cheltenham v Peterborough
- Derby v Oxford
- Ipswich v Bolton
- Lincoln City v Exeter
- Morecambe v Shrewsbury
- Plymouth v Barnsley
- Port Vale v Fleetwood
- Sheff Wed v Portsmouth
- Wycombe v Burton Albion
League Two fixtures
- AFC Wimbledon v Gillingham
- Bradford v Doncaste
- Carlisle v Crawley
- Harrogate Town v Swindon
- Leyton Orient v Grimsby
- Northampton v Colchester
- Rochdale v Crewe
- Salford City v Mansfield
- Stockport County v Barrow
- Sutton v Newport
- Tranmere v Stevenage
- Walsall v Hartlepool
Derby are in the third tier for the first time since 1986, the days of Bobby Davison in attack and Steve McClaren in midfield. There’s no Wayne Rooney, having signed for DC, and there’s a new owner. Former Guardian columnist Liam Rosenior has taken the reins, and they host Oxford today.
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Ben Fisher has put his neck on the line ahead of the new season.
There’s the hopefuls
Yo-yoing Norwich City and Watford are back in their befuddling and comforting safe zone, outside the top flight and almost certainly nestled towards the top of second tier. They will surely have a say in things, particularly the latter if head coach, Rob Edwards, who is hunting successive promotions, is able to lean on Emmanuel Dennis and Ismaïla Sarr for any part.
And the fearfuls
The past few seasons have been akin to a slow puncture for Birmingham, with an apathetic fanbase tired of the malaise that has clouded the club since the appointments of Gianfranco Zola then Harry Redknapp in 2016-17. John Eustace is the latest manager after the sacking of Lee Bowyer, but a destabilising backdrop remains. The former Barcelona striker Maxi López is part of a consortium that claims it is close to buying a 21% stake in the club but off-field uncertainty has hampered any designs on improving a thin squad.
Last night’s curtain-raiser at Huddersfield saw the arrival on the scene of Vincent Kompany’s Burnley revolution.
The Clarets completed more than 300 passes in the first half, they only achieved such a feat in 90 minutes twice in the entirety of last season to show the early impact of their new manager. No wonder Kompany said he was inspired by Pep Guardiola pre-match. The Manchester City boss will have enjoyed the winner, too, even if it did come from a Chelsea player who marauded into the area from left-back before picking out the bottom corner.
Preamble
It’s back, though football never went away this summer, and the EFL already has a flashy new form horse in Vinny Kompany’s Burnley. But nevertheless, here’s where the real meat and drink is consumed. The Championship kicks off at 3pm, with the eye-catching fixture that between Norwich, on that timeshare arrangement with Fulham between the Premier League and Championship, and the ever hopeful Cardiff. Wigan and Rotherham make their return to the second tier, while down below, Stockport make a happy return to the EFL after 11 years away. Welcome back, you Hatters, and they play Barrow today. Grimsby, after just a season out, are away at Leyton Orient, the hipsters’ favourite.
For the 3pms in the Championship today, we have:
- Blackpool vs Reading
- Cardiff City vs Norwich City
- Rotherham vs Swansea City
- Blackburn Rovers vs QPR
- Luton Town vs Birmingham City
- Hull City vs Bristol City
- Wigan Athletic vs Preston North End
- Millwall vs Stoke City
- Middlesbrough vs West Bromwich Albion (5pm)
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