Watch highlights from every game on the opening Saturday of the Sky Bet Championship season, which saw defeats for promotion favourites Fulham, Stoke City and Cardiff City, while newly promoted Barnsley and Charlton both picked up impressive victories.
Sky Bet Championship results
- Barnsley 1-0 Fulham
- Blackburn 1-2 Charlton
- Brentford 0-1 Birmingham
- Millwall 1-0 Preston
- Reading 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday
- Stoke 1-2 QPR
- Swansea 2-1 Hull
- Wigan 3-2 Cardiff
- Nottingham Forest 1-2 WBA
Barnsley 1-0 Fulham
Oakwell saw a battle of two clubs returning to the Sky Bet Championship, with Fulham falling back from the Premier League, and Barnsley promoted from League One and it was the Tykes that took the three points to send a stern reminder to the London side that they face a real fight in the second tier this season.
Tykes boss Daniel Stendel named six new reinforcements in his starting line-up, which also included Cauley Woodrow who was facing his old club, with whom he spent seven years.
Parker took charge of his inaugural Championship game and welcomed Wolves loanee Ivan Cavaleiro into the starting XI. Alfie Mawson was deemed fit and started the match against his former club.
A bright Fulham start saw their talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic go close when his right-footed shot curled just over the bar from the edge of the box after some good work from Aboubakar Kamara.
But it was Barnsley who took the lead thanks to a stunning piece of play by debutant Thomas who collected Mike Bahre's pass and skipped past Joe Bryan before calmly slotting under Marcus Bettinelli.
The second half started just as the first ended; Barnsley were on top and nearly stretched their lead when Wilks once again bullied his way into the penalty box but his effort was matched by Bettinelli.
Fulham were starting to get themselves back in the game and nearly equalised through Mawson who jumped highest to meet an in-swinging free-kick, but his header was inches wide.
Summer signing Anthony Knockaert entered the game for Fulham and he was quickly into action, forcing Radlinger to tip his left-footed shot over the bar.
Another away substitute, Floyd Ayite, nearly equalised when Knockaert's cross was palmed away by Radlinger only to find Ayite whose shot was blocked by a sea of Barnsley defenders.
Fulham's search for an equaliser was unsuccessful as newly-promoted Barnsley held onto all three points at Oakwell.
Wigan 3-2 Cardiff
The game of the day saw Cardiff also return to the second tier of English football with an away defeat, in their case to Wigan, whose excellent home form from last season rolled into the new campaign.
Lee Evans stunning strike deserved to win a topsy turvy game, which saw Wigan fight from 1-0 down to 2-1 ahead, before being pegged back to 2-2 before Evan's winner to stun the Welsh side.
Cardiff were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men inside seven minutes when Ralls caught Evans just below the knee with a reckless challenge that could easily have seen him given a red card rather than yellow
After a slow, shakey start, it was Ralls who boosted Cardiff's momentum and calmed the away fans nerves after 20 minutes, firing home from inside of the area.
But Cardiff could not build on that lead and did not take advantage of a second half let off when Josh Windass missed a penalty for the home side on 54 minutes at 1-0.
Cardiff were then forced into a goalkeeping change when Neil Etheridge limped off to be replaced by Joe Day, and the first task for the new-boy was to pick the ball out of his net.
Windass made partial amends for his penalty miss by lining up a free-kick from almost 40 yards out on the hour mark. The ball deflected off the wall and looped it into the box, where Jacobs tucked home with aplomb.
Three minutes later, Windass was the Wigan hero as he raced on to a through ball and fired an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net.
However, Cardiff were not finished and former Wigan man Omar Bogle bundled the ball home with 20 minutes to go, to the delighted of the visiting fans behind the goal.
Still both teams pushed forward in search of a winner and it was Wigan who found goal number five of an incredible contest.
Evans cut in from the Wigan left and curled a magnificent strike into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Cardiff saw a couple of goalmouth scrambles hacked away by desperate Wigan defending, with substitute Cedric Kipre almost heading into his own net.
But Wigan could and should have found a fourth goal in the dying seconds, only for Windass' shot to be tipped round the post by Day.
Stoke 1-2 QPR
After a nightmare return to the Sky Bet Championship last term, hopes were high in the Stoke camp that they had solved their Premier League hangover problems and push for promotion this time around under Nathan Jones.
However their season started the same as the last, with an away defeat, this time to QPR.
It means Stoke have failed to win their opening game of a new season since they defeated Burnley 2-0 in the Premier League back in 2009.
Despite a major overhaul of the QPR squad over the summer, Mark Warburton's players looked together and bonded and their understanding showed in their two goals.
New boy Jordan Hugill poked home on eight minutes, following a howler by Jack Butland. The England keeper failed to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. It allowed Bright Osayi-Samuel to pick out Jordan Hugill from the byline for a simple tap-in.
And Rangers wrapped up the points early in the second half following a brilliant solo run and finish by Eberechi Eze.
Jones' outfit fought back late on with Sam Clucas' strike 12 minutes from time, but despite all of Stoke's firepower, they failed to find an equaliser.
Tommy Smith fired wide from distance before QPR survived a goalmouth scramble in the dying minutes. Rangers survived big shouts for a penalty after the ball hit the hand of a defender protecting his face from a shot.
Reading 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday, with caretaker manager Lee Bullen still in charge, took all three points despite the second half sending off of goalkeeper Keiren Westwood.
Wednesday, who lost their manager Steve Bruce to Newcastle less than a month ago, took the lead through the impressive debutant Kadeem Harris, assisted by Liam Palmer, on the 30 minute mark, before Yakou Meite's second half equaliser, as he headed home Josh Barrett's clever chip.
But Reading's joy was short lived, as Sam Hutchinson restored The Owl's lead just two minutes later, when he was left unmarked from a Barry Bannan corner.
Reading manager Jose Gomes brought on substitute Charlie Adam for his debut and the former Stoke midfielder showed some neat touches, including a fierce long-range shot that flew just over.
The hosts were given a lifeline when Westwood was sent off for a clash with Mo Barrow outside the box. Sub keeper Cameron Dawson replaced Steven Fletcher to take his place between the sticks, but was rarely challenged.
Lucas João continued his impressive form last season by sealing the win in the 97th minute.
Swansea City 2-1 Hull City
In a meeting of two new managers, Steve Cooper took bragging rights, as his Swansea City saw off Grant McCann's Hull City thanks to a second half comeback.
Things started badly for the new Swansea boss, as it took the visitors just three minutes to open their account for the new season, as Daniel Batty got a slight nick on Kamil Grosicki's shot, to deflect the ball home.
Cooper's first half time team talk clearly inspired their troops as they turned the game on its head quickly, striking on 48 and 49 minutes.
First Borja Bastón headed home from close range, the Spanish striker's first Swansea goal for 1,022 days.
Almost three years on from his last outing in a Swansea shirt, Borja showed his poacher's instinct to lift a header over George Long and into the net after Fulton had flicked Nathan Dyer's cross into the air on the six-yard box.
The Swansea supporters were on their feet again in the 49th minute when Van der Hoorn stooped to head them in-front. Jake Bidwell had seen his cross clip the crossbar and fall to Dyer, who hit the ball back into the ground for the Dutch centre-back to dive in and head home.
Brentford 0-1 Birmingham
Pep Clotet opened up his reign as Birmingham City's new boss with a smash-and-grab victory at Brentford in a low key opening match.
The home side were without star striker Neal Maupay, apparently out with a hamstring injury among rumours of a move away from Griffin Park before Thursday's transfer deadline.
It appeared the London club missed the French striker in the early stages, as they dominated proceedings without being able to find the back of the net.
In a bright opening Ollie Watkins came closest to breaking the deadlock for the hosts after 15 minutes but his turn and shot cannoned to safety off the bar with Camp nowhere.
Brentford could have been four up by the break but a mixture of poor finishing and Lee Camp's heroics in the City goal saw the visitors keep their clean sheet intact.
In typical Championship fashion Brentford were made to pay, as Birmingham, with their first shot of the day, took the lead on 18 minutes.
The sucker-punch came when a quickly-taken free-kick caught the Bees defence napping and Pedersen lofted a superbly-placed header from the edge of the area over keeper Raya and just under the bar.
After the break, Blues relied on the counter-attack but failed to test Raya once as Brentford grew more and more desperate for a foothold in the game.
But they lacked any creativity in the final third and in the end it was comfortable for the visitors.
Canos saw a header tipped wide by Camp just after the hour-mark before Ethan Pinnock arrowed a header just past the upright from the resultant corner.
Brentford threw on substitute Marcus Forss late on and the switch to a traditional centre-forward almost brought instant rewards when his header was deflected wide by Marc Roberts.
The youngster came close at the death but his deflected effort on the turn looped off Dean and into the grateful arms of Camp as Brentford's curtain-raiser ended in frustration.
Nottingham Forest 1-2 West Brom
Slaven Bilic won the battle of the new managers at the City Ground as West Brom claimed a 2-1 win on a day Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Aro Muric will want to forget.
The Baggies boss saw his side kick-off the season with three points thanks to goals from Kyle Edwards and Matt Phillips as they came from behind after Matty Cash had given the Reds the lead.
Both goals saw Forest goalkeeper Muric left red-faced as their new head coach Sabri Lamouchi endured a frustrating first game in charge.
The plot of the first half was underpinned by those errors.
The Reds had taken the lead following a bright start as Cash drove a shot inside the near post following a neat exchange of passes with Albert Adomah.
But West Brom took just seven minutes to equalise as on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper Muric made his first mistake.
Edwards had shown quick feet to dance into space in the box and find the room to let fly with a shot. It was straight at Muric but he somehow allowed the ball to slip from his grasp and into the back of the net.
Things got worse for the Forest stopper, who then saw a cross from Phillips loop high over his head and inside the far post to make it 2-1 to the visitors in the 26th minute.
It was not intentional from the Baggies winger, but he still happily celebrated as a dejected Muric had to pick the ball out of the back of the net for a second time.
The goal completely changed the mood at the City Ground, where the home side had started well.
Muric was one of four Forest debutants, along with Alfa Semedo and Tiago Silva in midfield and winger Albert Adomah.
There were five new faces in the Baggies line-up in the form of defenders Nathan Ferguson and Semi Ajayi, midfielders Romaine Sawyers and Filip Krovinovic and forward Kenneth Zohore.
A familiar battle resumed after the break, with Muric this time coming out on top as he made a strong save to deny Edwards a second goal.
Semedo shot high and wide following a superb run, while a cross from Adomah almost picked out Lewis Grabban in the centre.
Substitute Sammy Ameobi headed wide late on as the Baggies held out.
Millwall 1-0 Preston
After a summer of much change at the New Den, it was a familiar face that won this game for Millwall against Preston, as Jed Wallace struck on 33 minutes.
The Lions winger strike earn Neil Harris his 100th victory as Millwall manager and ensure their first opening-day win in the second tier since 2014.
Preston huffed and puffed but failed to register a single attempt on target, with Alan Browne's first-half strike that was cleared off the line and Sean Maguire's curling effort just past the post the closest they came to grabbing an equaliser.
For a side that finished just one place above the relegation zone last term, the Lions sent an early statement to suggest this campaign could see improved fortunes.
Millwall, starting with four of their eight summer signings, made a lightning start to the game - with Wallace forcing Declan Rudd into a sharp early save from 25 yards after Preston only half-cleared a Shaun Williams corner in the second minute.
Just past the half-hour mark, Millwall went in front. One of those four new recruits, Connor Mahoney, worked a yard of space before picking out Wallace, who expertly volleyed past Rudd, although the former Norwich goalkeeper will feel he should have kept it out.
But Millwall's joy was short-lived as goalkeeper Frank Fielding, another of their new players, was forced off through injury - forcing Harris to introduce a fifth debutant in Bartosz Bialkowski, who joined earlier this week on loan from Ipswich.
The second period was relatively uneventful compared to the first and despite some late pressure from the Lilywhites, which included a penalty appeal from Maguire that the referee correctly turned down, they were unable to trouble Bialkowski as their losing run on the road stretched to four games.
Blackburn 1-2 Charlton
Despite their continued off the field problems, Charlton continued their winning momentum from their promotion winning season from Sky Bet League One last term, as they marked their return to the second tier with an impressive away victory at Blackburn.
The creative Jonny Williams, who helped turn the League One Play-off final the way of the Addicks in May against Sunderland, was again the key man, setting up the first goal that was finished off by Ben Purrington.
It was Charlton's first goal in the second tier since April 30, 2016, which was also their last second tier victory, which came against Leeds United.
It could have got worse for Rovers before half-time when Bradley Johnson was robbed of the ball by Taylor, whose low drive had to be gathered by keeper Walton.
Blackburn regrouped during the break and got their reward in the 54th minute, though the equaliser came in bizarre fashion.
Downing's corner was met by a thumping Johnson header that Anfernee Dijksteel headed off the line but only straight at his goalkeeper's head and unfortunately for the visitors, into the net.
Charlton regained the lead in the 77th minute when Jason Pearce headed a corner goal wards and Lyle Taylor - tipped by our EFL expert Tom Carduff to be the Championship's top goal scorer - deft touch took it past Walton via the post.
Only a superb close-range save by Walton from Jake Forster-Caskey spared further embarrassment, as the Addicks gained a richly-deserved three points.
