Macaulay Langstaff made an instant impact from the bench as Millwall opened their Championship campaign with an excellent 2-1 win at Norwich. Introduced as an 80th-minute substitute with the game delicately poised, Langstaff took less than three minutes to make his presence felt with a cool finish to settle a keenly contested encounter.
After a cagey first half the Lions quickly took the lead after the break with a fine finish from Camiel Neghli, only for a mistake from the goalkeeper Steven Benda to hand Josh Sargent an equaliser four minutes later. Norwich, hoping to make it a winning start for Liam Manning, looked the more likely to take all three points after that, but it was the Lions who had the final say to make it a happy return to Norfolk for Alex Neil, who had two years in charge at Carrow Road from 2015-17.
Stoke got their season off to a winning start after the debutants Divin Mubama and Sorba Thomas both scored in stoppage time to secure a 3-1 win over Derby at the bet365 Stadium. The debutant Carlton Morris had put the Rams ahead against the run of play on the hour mark, but it was cancelled out 10 minutes later by Lewis Baker’s bending shot from outside the box.
It looked as though the match was going to end in a draw until the fifth minute of stoppage time when Mubama, who joined the Potters on loan from Manchester City, headed home. Sorba, another summer arrival, added gloss moments later when he found the net from close range.
The summer signing Harvey Knibbs scored a stoppage-time winner for Charlton as last season’s League One playoff winners made it a losing start for the new Watford head coach, Paulo Pezzolano. The 26-year-old pounced from Conor Coventry’s corner deep to the back post in the closing moments.
Charlton remain unbeaten at home since 3 December and have won 14 and drawn three of their past 17 matches, including the playoff semi-final second leg, under Nathan Jones. The other victors at lunchtime were Southampton, who came from behind to beat Wrexham 2-1 at home. The division’s other Welsh side also lost, Swansea going down 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
Ryan Mason made a winning start as West Brom head coach with a 1-0 victory over Blackburn in their season opener at the Hawthorns. Isaac Price’s 15th-minute goal gave Albion a deserved victory, with Aune Heggebø and Price again going close, while Blackburn’s only serious threat came from Yuki Ohashi’s saved shot. The hosts ended the match with 10 men after Darnell Furlong was sent off at the death.
The Australian Adrian Segecic scored on his debut to give Portsmouth a 1-0 victory in a fiercely contested encounter at Oxford. The summer signing from. Sydney FC struck in the 38th minute with a sharp follow-up finish after Jamie Cumming saved from Colby Bishop, who had broken clear from Cameron Brannagan’s poor backpass. Pompey are now unbeaten in their last eight league games against the U’s.
Milutin Osmajic’s equaliser earned Preston an opening-day point in a 1-1 draw at QPR in the west London side’s first match under Julien Stéphan.
Osmajic hauled Preston level after Ben Whiteman’s first-half own goal.
Coventry and Hull drew 0-0 at the Coventry Building Society Arena. The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock was when Milan van Ewijk’s long-range effort struck the woodwork for the hosts in the second half. The result represents a decent return for the Tigers, who went through a chaotic summer in which they were briefly put under a transfer embargo.
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