
Results: Friday
Luton Town 3 Middlesbrough 3
Saturday
Barnsley 1 Fulham 0
Blackburn Rovers 1 Charlton Athletic 2
Brentford 0 Birmingham City 1
Millwall 1 Preston North End 0
Reading 1 Sheffield Wednesday 3
Stoke City 1 Queens Park Rangers 2
Swansea City 2 Hull City 1
Wigan Athletic 3 Cardiff City 2
Nottingham Forest 1 West Bromwich Albion 2
To be played on Sunday
Bristol City v Leeds United - 17:30 CEST kick-off
To be played on Monday
Huddersfield Town v Derby County - 20:45 CEST kick-off
Round-up: The EFL Championship new season kicked off once again, with the first match taking place on Friday between newly promoted Luton Town and Middlesbrough who played out an entertaining 3-3 draw. It did not take long for the opening goal of the new EFL season, as Ashley Fletcher scored in the seventh minute to give Middlesbrough the lead. That lead did not last long, however, as Luton's Sonny Bradley equalised just ten minutes later thanks to a 25-yard half-volley, and in the 24th minute Martin Cranie scored from a corner to give them the lead. However, Luton were unable to hold on to their lead until half-time as Britt Assombalonga equalised with eight minutes of the half remaining thanks to some poor goalkeeping from Luton's club-record signing, goalkeeper Simon Sluga from HNK Rijeka. In the second half, there was another goal of the highest quality, as Lewis Wing scored a brilliant goal to put Middlesbrough back in the lead. Assombalonga should have put the win for Middlesbrough beyond all doubt in the 81st minute, but he skied his penalty over the bar - and Luton's James Collins made him pay, scoring the equaliser on the 85th minute to ensure a share of the spoils for both sides.
In Saturday's match, it was a great start to the season for Luton's fellow promoted teams, as Charlton Athletic, whose impressive performances in the last year under manager Lee Bowyer are still overshadowed by unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet who has been looking to sell the club, began their season with a brilliant 2-1 away to Blackburn Rovers thanks to goals from Ben Purrington and Lyle Taylor either side of the interval. As for the other promoted team, Barnsley, it was also a great start on their return to the Championship as they beat Fulham, who returned to the Championship via the opposite direction, by a goal to nil thanks to Luke Thomas' 13th minute strike. It was also a disappointing day for relegated Cardiff City, as they suffered defeat at the hands of Wigan Athletic in a 5-goal thriller. Joe Ralls gave Cardiff the lead against the run of play in the 20th minute, before early in the second half Wigan were awarded a penalty after Josh Windass was fouled in the area, however Windass failed to convert the resulting spot-kick. He made amends, however, as he assisted the equaliser for Michael Jacobs, before scoring himself to give Wigan the lead. Former Wigan striker Omar Bogle equalised for Cardiff, before Welshman Lee Evans scored to give Wigan a winning start to the season.
There were no such problems for Cardiff City's Welsh rivals Swansea City, who came from behind to beat Hull City 2-1 after two goals in the space of two early second-half minutes from Borja Baston and Mike van der Hoorn after Kamil Grosicki had given the Tigers the lead to ensure it was a successful senior managerial debut for Steve Cooper. It was a good start to the season for managerless Sheffield Wednesday (currently Mark Bullen is in interim charge), as they won 3-1 away to Reading despite having goalkeeper Kieren Westwood sent-off, thanks to goals from Kadeem Harris, Sam Hutchinson and Lucas Joao. Birmingham City, who controversially sacked Garry Monk during the off-season, did get off to a winning start under new manager Pep Clotet away to Brentford after a 1-0 victory, thanks to a goal from Kristian Pedersen which was Birmingham's only attempt of the whole match. It was a brilliant return to management for Mark Warburton, as his side Queens Park Rangers began the season with an impressive 2-1 victory away to Stoke City thanks to goals from Jordan Hugill and Eberechi Eze, with Sam Clucas scoring a consolation. In a match between two sides who kept their managers from last season as well as competed in the Championship, Millwall edged out Preston North End thanks to a solitary goal from Jed Wallace.
In the evening kick-off, a match between two managers making their debut in the Championship, it was Croatian Slaven Bilic who came out on top for West Bromwich Albion against Sabri Lamouchi's Nottingham Forest, after they came from behind to win the match
2-1 thanks to goals from Kyle Edwards and Matt Phillips.
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