Championship Round-Up: The Opening Round Read in Twelve Results

The Championship needed one Friday night and one Saturday afternoon to remind everyone what it charges for entry, then spent Sunday and Monday raising the price. A penalty converted in the third minute of stoppage time that the conceding manager believes happened outside the box. A club back in the second tier for the first time in 65 years, ahead until the 62nd minute, beaten in the 91st. A striker two goals down with seven minutes left who finished level, and a Welsh derby settled by a free-kick in the 98th. Twelve games produced one red card, a stack of late goals and several arguments that will outlast the opening week.

The shape of the round

Queens Park Rangers still sat top of the first table of the season once all twelve games were done, with Millwall directly behind them and Swansea City, West Bromwich Albion, Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough and Watford completing a set of eight opening winners. Wolves and Blackburn Rovers took a point each from Friday's 2-2 draw at Molineux, Sheffield United and Birmingham City shared a goalless afternoon at Bramall Lane that had three efforts on target in it, total, and the Sunday and Monday games added two more draws and one Watford win to the ledger. Southampton, beaten at Vicarage Road, finished the round where their points deduction left them: 24th, on minus four.

If the opening round had a theme, it was lateness. Raul Jimenez equalised for Wolves in the third minute of stoppage time. Lankshear won it for Middlesbrough in the 91st. Morgan won it at Norwich against the run of play in the 87th, and Norwich pulled one back in the 90th. Then the stragglers outdid all of them: Zian Flemming levelled for Burnley in the second minute of added time on Sunday, and Rubin Colwill equalised for Cardiff in the eighth on Monday night. The division's early lesson for newcomers arriving from either direction is the one it teaches every August: nothing here is safe until the fourth official has gone home.

Wolves 2-2 Blackburn: a penalty row to open the season

Tony Mowbray's first game back in charge of Blackburn very nearly ended with an away win at a club relegated from the Premier League last season. Munetsi had put Wolves ahead in the 18th minute, McLoughlin replied with his first Blackburn goal in the 27th, and Gudjohnsen, son of Eidur, turned the game three minutes into the second half. Then, two minutes into stoppage time, Jackson Tchatchoua's cross struck the outstretched arm of Ryan Alebiosu on the edge of the penalty area, referee Farai Hallam pointed to the spot, and Jimenez, in his first league game back at Wolves for three years, did the rest in front of 30,984.

Mowbray told Sky Sports: "Having been in the dressing room now and watched the still picture, it looks like it's outside the box to me." There is no VAR in this division to say otherwise. Wolves had 18 shots to 10 and an expected-goals count of 2.04 to 0.82, so the point was not theft. It just arrived by the least dignified route available, which in the Championship counts as tradition. Blackburn still nearly won it after the equaliser, Jake Garrett's curler drawing a tip over from Dan Bentley five minutes into stoppage time, and both managers left Molineux saying the same thing: they hope to add signings before the August window closes.

Norwich 1-2 West Brom: the arm nobody checked

Carrow Road staged the weekend's other handball argument, except this one produced a goal rather than cancelled one. Aune Heggebo appeared to force the ball over the line with his arm for West Brom's 75th-minute opener, Norwich's defenders appealed, and the goal stood. JJ Morgan then drove into the area and found the bottom corner in the 87th minute, and Kvistgaarden's 90th-minute reply changed the mood without changing the outcome.

Norwich created the better chances for most of the afternoon and met Max O'Leary in the sort of form that wins a keeper the player-of-the-match award. Philippe Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk the opener was "a clear-cut goal that should be disallowed". James Morrison collected West Brom's third straight opening-day win and will not be drawn into the argument. Winners rarely are.

Middlesbrough 2-1 Lincoln: the 65-year return undone late

Lincoln City's first game in England's second tier for 65 years followed the script their supporters would have written, right up until it did not. Adam Reach, once of Middlesbrough, side-footed the Imps ahead in the 12th minute, and George Wickens produced a string of saves to protect the lead. Lincoln arrived on a 29-game unbeaten league run, champions of the third tier with 103 points, and for an hour at the Riverside they looked like a side that had forgotten how losing works.

Lankshear reminded them. The summer signing from Tottenham levelled in the 62nd minute, hit the post late on, and then took Riley McGree's pass to win it in stoppage time, his third goal in two games for his new club. Boro head coach Kim Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "What a first day of the season, it had everything." Lincoln's Chris Cohen thought his side were "sensational" in the first half, and he is entitled to. Last season's play-off finalists simply lasted the full 90, and that was the difference.

Bristol City 0-2 Millwall: the red card that killed the game

Michael Skubala's first league game at Ashton Gate turned in the 36th minute, when Adam Randell collected a second yellow card for pulling back Josh Coburn as the striker tried to break clear. Coburn had already been booked himself by referee Lewis Smith, for a dive, when he was convinced Sam Tickle had brought him down in the box. His response was practical rather than theatrical: a near-post finish from Kyrell Lisbie's pull-back in the 41st minute, and a header from debutant Jenson Metcalfe's deep cross in the 50th.

Millwall might have had a third when Kyrell Lisbie turned in Lyndon Dykes' goalbound effort two minutes from time, only for Lisbie to be flagged offside as Dykes struck the shot, and new signing Tairyk Arconte somehow hit the post from a couple of yards with nobody near him. Skubala's ten men never registered a shot on target. "It's not about effort," the City boss told BBC Radio Bristol, "but in the end the red card's the thing that's just killed the game." Alex Neil's assessment for BBC Radio London was shorter: his side "carried a threat right through the game". Beaten play-off semi-finalists last season, second in the table this weekend. It is early, and Millwall will not mind.

The rest of Saturday

Bolton 2-1 Preston

Bolton's first Championship game for seven years drew 26,262 to a ground that sounded like it had been waiting for them. Dalby pounced on a rebound in the 14th minute, Thierry Gale added a breakaway goal in the 25th, and Erabi's 86th-minute header made the last few minutes harder than they needed to be. Steven Schumacher's verdict to BBC Radio Manchester doubles as a division-wide forecast: "That's what this division is like, it's mental." Preston might still have taken a point: Milutin Osmajic raced clean through and chose to pass, and Liam Lindsay headed over from point-blank range in the last of four added minutes. Paul Heckingbottom admitted the occasion "seemed to catch us cold", and his club have now failed to win a league opener since 2018-19.

Charlton 2-1 Derby

Derby's week had already been unsettled off the pitch by the aborted takeover involving Turki Al-Sheikh, and their afternoon at The Valley followed the pattern. Sammie Szmodics struck sweetly in the 23rd minute, then Charlton headed level from Karlan Grant's exquisite cross in the 61st minute and Campbell fired the winner into the corner ten minutes from time. It is Charlton's sixth opening-day win in eight seasons and Derby's fourth opening-day defeat in a row. Derby did rally late, Oscar Fraulo forcing a fine save from Will Mannion, who then denied Morris in injury time, but the road defeats keep stacking up. John Eustace was blunt with BBC Radio Derby: "We didn't defend the box well enough."

Portsmouth 1-3 QPR

Fratton Park had seen QPR win a league game there once in 30 years, so Devlin's swerving drive from just over 30 yards in the 15th minute felt like the day going to form. What followed was ruthless: Ilias Chair scored in the 33rd minute and again in first-half stoppage time, either side of a Koki Saito shot that went in off Devlin, and QPR converted all three of their first-half shots on target. Chair had not scored since November after four months out with a calf problem. Portsmouth's frustration is that the chances to claw back kept arriving and kept going unused: Shaughnessy fluffed a free header, debutant Abu Kamara's weak shot was saved, and Josh Murphy, back from groin surgery, flashed an effort across goal. The final expected-goals count read 2.00 to 2.04, which is about as level as a 1-3 can look. John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent his side "seemed to fall apart" after scoring, which the scoreline politely confirms.

Stoke 1-2 Swansea

Adam Idah's afternoon lasted seconds before it mattered: on as a substitute for last season's top scorer Zan Vipotnik, he scored with his first touch in the 66th minute to complete Swansea's comeback. Bocat's deflected 10th-minute opener, his first goal for Stoke, had been cancelled out by Joseph Opoku's debut goal in the 22nd. The afternoon carried a subplot: Ethan Galbraith made his Stoke league debut a little over six weeks after leaving Swansea in a big-money move, and brushed off the boos of the travelling fans. Swansea had won once in their previous 15 visits to the bet365 Stadium; Vitor Matos called the closing spell what it was: "in the Championship you need to survive". Mark Robins was left with the other side of that sentence.

Sheffield United 0-0 Birmingham

Bramall Lane hosted the weekend's quiet game: three efforts on target in 90 minutes, none at all before half-time from either side. Patrick Bamford, sent clean through in the second half, was denied at the near post by James Beadle for what passed as the game's headline moment. Chris Wilder felt his side were "a little too loose with the ball"; Birmingham's Chris Davies claimed his team "deserved to win" on chances and territory. A point each was probably the honest ledger entry, and both managers seemed to know it.

Watford 2-1 Southampton: the minus-four club stays in the minus

Southampton's first Championship game since their expulsion from last season's play-off final began with a four-point deduction to climb out of, and ended with the deficit intact. Iker Bravo, a debutant, profited from Jack Stephens' misplaced pass to open the scoring in the 12th minute at Vicarage Road, and Amin Nabizada doubled the lead in the 29th with a solo goal, a driving run down the right finished past Daniel Peretz. Cyle Larin's instinctive finish in the 56th gave the visitors the rest of the game to find a second. Taylor Harwood-Bellis had the clearest sight of it deep in stoppage time and put it wide of the right post.

The numbers belonged to Southampton: 66 percent of the ball and an expected-goals count of 1.65 to 0.83. The points belonged to Watford, who paid a pre-match tribute to Kenny Jackett, the former player and manager who died in June, and whose new head coach Alessio Dionisi is the 24th the Pozzo family have appointed since 2012. Dionisi told BBC Three Counties Radio: "Southampton is very strong, for me they will arrive in first, second or third position." Tonda Eckert's reading, given to BBC Radio Solent, was that his side "made a mistake in possession, they scored off the first occasion, and these games take a different dynamic". His problems are not confined to matchdays: the FA's investigation into his role in the Spygate affair continues, with a hearing expected in mid-September, and the 19,542 inside Vicarage Road watched a club playing its football with a tribunal in the wing mirror.

Burnley 2-2 West Ham: Flemming twice, from seven minutes out

West Ham arrived at Turf Moor as the division's promotion favourites and left having surrendered a two-goal lead in the last seven minutes. Max Kilman headed them in front in the 10th minute from Jarrod Bowen's corner, shrugging off Aaron Ramsey's marking, and Manor Solomon finished Mohamadou Kante's touchline run and pull-back in the 72nd for a goal on his debut. Then Ollie Scarles brought down Marcus Edwards in the box, Zian Flemming converted the penalty in the 83rd, and when the visitors failed to clear a corner in the second minute of stoppage time, Flemming turned Max Alleyne's ball home to level it.

Flemming had also hit the far post with a header and seen another cleared off the line, so the width of the woodwork was all that separated him from an opening-day hat-trick. Burnley's expected-goals count of 2.08 to 1.28 says the point was earned rather than stolen. It arrived on Nicky Hayen's 46th birthday, in his first Championship game as Burnley manager, and the Belgian punched the air in celebration. "At half-time, we said 'don't panic'," he said afterwards, "and the moment we could bring that spark in by scoring, it changed the game." Nuno Espirito Santo called it "a learning process that we have to do fast". West Ham have made Arne Engels a record Championship signing to speed that process up. On this evidence the defending needs the lesson more than the midfield.

Cardiff 1-1 Wrexham: a Welsh derby settled by the last kick

The first league meeting between these clubs since 2001-02 gave the round its final act, and the act was worth the 24-year wait. Kieffer Moore, taunted by the Cardiff supporters who once cheered him, ran onto Danny Imray's ball over the top and finished from a tight angle inside three minutes, his fifth goal in five appearances against the Bluebirds since leaving for Bournemouth in 2022. Wrexham then did nearly everything required to win away in front of 31,421: Moore headed against the bar, Callum Doyle's drive came back off the post, Nathan Trott saved from Doyle and from Imray, and Sam Smith's late lob drifted just wide.

Nearly everything. In the seventh minute of stoppage time George Dobson tripped Joel Colwill on the edge of the Wrexham box, and Rubin Colwill, a substitute carrying two days of training after a pre-season injury, put the free-kick past debutant keeper Anthony Patterson despite a touch on the way. Phil Parkinson's verdict to Sky Sports had the sound of a man reading his own post-mortem: "We've had enough chances to have killed the game off." On the goal itself: "We gave away a cheap free-kick and a quality player has stuck the ball in the top corner." Brian Barry-Murphy called it "a difficult night, but very enjoyable in the end", which is one way of describing 18 Wrexham shots to his side's 11. Colwill called scoring it "the best feeling ever". The scrap to be Wales' top club has its first entry in the ledger, and neither side will think the argument settled.

What round two asks next

The second round arrives on Saturday with the questions the first one wrote. Wrexham host Watford, a meeting of the side that dropped two points at the death and a side that has banked all three. Cardiff carry their stoppage-time point to Derby, whose opening-day defeats now stretch four seasons deep. Southampton begin the three home games in a row Eckert flagged, starting with Stoke, still four points below zero and with a hearing on the horizon. And on Sunday, West Brom, winners on opening day for the third season running, host a Burnley side that has just shown West Ham what a two-goal lead is worth here. One round in, the table is a rumour. The arguments are already fact.

Sources: BBC Sport.