Key events
Those first halves: I was rather hoping for a gentle reintroduction to the occasional chaos that is the Guardian’s Saturday clockwatch but the goals have been flying in courtesy of all these restless players who are clearly champing at the bit after their summer holidays in Ibiza. Of course a few of them, specifically Barnet’s goalkeeper, Owen Evans, have been playing like they’re still on the sun-lounger with their noses buried in the latest John Grisham novel. Anyway, it’s good to be back!
A late goal for Stevenage: I’m afraid I jumped the gun there and got caught out! Stevenage went 2-1 up against Blackpool courtesy of a Jamie Reid penalty in the 10th minute of six minutes of allocated added time. I’ve amended the previous entry accordingly.
League One half-times
Cardiff City 2-1 Peterborough (R)
Blackpool 1-2 Stevenage
Bradford City 2-0 Wycombe
Burton 1-0 Mansfield Town
Doncaster Rovers 0-0 Exeter
Huddersfield Town 1-0 Leyton Orient
Lincoln City 1-0 Reading
Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Barnsley
Rotherham United 2-0 Port vale
Wigan 2-0 Northampton Town
League Two half-times
Accrington Stanley 0-0 Gillingham
Barnet 0-1 Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers 0-0 Harrogate Town
Cambridge United 0-0 Cheltenham
Chesterfield 1-0 Barrow
Colchester 0-1 Tranmere Rovers
Grimsby Town 2-0 Crawley Town
MK Dons 0-0 Oldham Athletic
Newport County v Notts County (kick-off delayed)
Salford City 1-1 Crewe
Shrewsbury Town 0-0 Bromley
Walsall 1-0 Swindon Town
League Two: Conor Thomas strikes again, firing Crewe 3-1 up against Salford City in the third minute of time added on at the end of the first half. Salford City owner Gary Neville will not be impressed, although one suspects his friend and co-owner David Beckham won’t be scaling quite the same levels of umbrage.
League Two: Conor Thomas restores Crewe’s lead over Salford City, putting them 2-1 ahead against Karl Robinson’s side.
League One: Wigan double their lead against Kevin Nolan’s Northampton Town, going 2-0 up thanks to a near-post header at a corner from Jensen Weir.
Scottish Premiership: Kilmarnock increase their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership, doubling their lead against Livingston through David Watson.
Scottish Premiership: Kilmarnock score the first goal of the Premiership season, taking the lead against newly promoted Livingston courtesy of a Djenario Daniels dink.
League Two: Newport County have now put kick-off in their game against Notts County at Rodney Parade back to 4pm, due to a pre-match medical emergency involving a fan that required the summoning of an air ambulance that landed on the pitch. Here’s hoping the supporter in question is OK.
League One: Port Vale’s return to League One under Darren Moore could scarcely be going more badly. Already two down against Rotherham to a Sam Nombe brace, they’ve just lost Jaheim Headley to a red card for a high challenge on the goalscorer.
League One: Sam Nombe rockets straight to the top of the League One goalscorers charts after scoring his second of the game for Rotherham, who lead Port Vale 2-0. At Home Park, Plymouth have coneded their second of the game without reply to Barnsley, conceding a beautifully struck Adam Phillips volley from outside the penalty area.
League Two: Barnet goalkeeper Owen Evans dawdles on the ball and gifts possession to Fleetwood’s Will Davies, who is only too happy to advance on the empty goal and give his side a 1-0 lead.
League Two: Walsall are now a goal up and a man down against Swindon Town after losing Brandon Conley to a red card for hand-tripping a rival player who had beaten him for pace.
League One: Burton lead Mansfield Town 1-0 in a Nigel Clough derby that isn’t currently going Nigel Clough’s side’s way. The former Burton Albion manager is back at Mansfield Town for his second spell in charge.
League One: The goals continue to fly in as Bradford City double their lead against Wycombe Wanderers. Bobby Pointon with the second goal at Valley Parade.
Meanwhile at the LNER Stadium, Lincoln City have gone ahead against Reading courtersy of a decidedly unfortunate own goal from finley Burns, who was powerless to avoid deflecting a cross past his own goalkeeper.
League One: With an excellent finish from a very tight angle, Jamie Reid cancels out George Honeyman’s opener for Blackpool to restore parity for Stevenage.
League Two: Kadeem Harris has redeeed himself by cancelling out his own goal by equalising for Salford City against Crewe Alexandra.
League One: Rotherham United have taken the lead against newly promoted Port Vale after Sam Nombe got on the end of a long ball from deep to volley home a fine effort from distance.
At Home Park, Plymouth midfielder Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu has marked his debut for the club by shinning a Barnsley free-kick into his own net at the back post. Oops.
League Two: Ian Holloway’s Swindon Town trail at Walsall after Evan Weir put the home side a goal up. Meanwhile at the Peninsula, Salford City have gone a goal down against Crewe after Kadeem Harris put the ball into his own net. At Blundell Park, Grimsby have gone ahead against Crawley thanks to Jaze Kabia’s penalty on 10 minutes, while kick-off in the game between Newport County and Notts County has been delaeyd until 3.45pm.
League One: Antoni Sarcevic fires Bradford ahead against Wycombe in front of 20,000 fans at Valley Parade.
League One: Signed from Millwall this summer, George Honeyman slots home to give Steve Bruce’s Blackpool the lead over Stevenage after six minutes.
Meanwhile at the Accu Stadium, home side Huddersfield have gone a goal up against Leyton Orient courtesy of a scruffy effort that went in off Joe Low’s shoulder from close range.
League One: Plymouth Argyle, who are being managed by Tom Cleverley, thought they’d opened the scoring against Barnsley courtesy of a Caleb Watts strike from eight yards but his effort has been disallowed.
Transfer watch: I’ve just discovered that my compatriot the Rep of Ireland striker Aaron Connolly plays for Leyton Orient and has lined up with the Os to face Huddersfield Town today. The last I heard, Connolly was at Millwall.
Our three o’clock kick-offs are go. Well, most of them are. We’ve yet to hear if the game between Newport County and Notts County at Rodney Parade was able to get under way after an air ambulance had to land on the pitch earlier so its occupants could attend to a fan who fell ill in the stands.
Not long now: It’s the hope that kills you and all over the UK, fans of teams in Leagues One and Two are brimful of optimism ahead of today’s three o’clock kick-offs as their teams prepare for their first games of the season. While your team can’t win the league on the opening day of the season, they can certainly give fans a fairly good idea of which end of the table they’ll be battling on the last day!
Sheffield Wednesday: In some rare good news during desperate times for Sheffield Wednesday fans, club captain Barry Bannan has signed a new contract with the troubled Championship club.
The 35-year-old midfielder, who had attracted interest from Millwall and Middlesbrough after his previous deal expired, has committed to the Sheffield Wednesday at the end of a week in which the club failed to pay their players and other staff on time for the third successive month. The club has not disclosed the details of Bannan’s new deal.
“This club is a big part of me and my family, who are with me here today as I’m signing,” said Bannan. “They will always stand by me with whatever decision I make and I’ve decided to stay. With the season getting closer, this last week has been tough because there was interest from elsewhere and I had a lot to think about. We had a lot of conversations as a family and when I told my daughter Elsie that I might be leaving she started crying. Then last night when I told her I was staying she started crying again. I asked her why and she said they are just happy tears.”
Bannan has made a total of 447 appearances for the Owls, placing him eighth on the club’s all-time list. his new deal comes two days after it was revealed players and staff had refused to take part in a scheduled behind-closed-doors friendly against Burnley scheduled for today.
That game was cancelled amid an escalating financial crisis at Hillsborough under owner Dejphon Chansiri and caused growing concern within the English Football League over whether the club will be able to play their opening game of the season at Leicester on 10 August. Wednesday have been placed under several EFL embargoes for breaching financial rules.
They currently have only 16 senior players contracted to the club following the departures of Djeidi Gassama, Anthony Musaba, Josh Windass and Michael Smith. The latter two had their contracts terminated by mutual consent to allow them to join Wrexham and Preston.
The latest missed payments to players and staff in July heaped further pressure on Chansiri, who insists he is willing to sell the club for the right price. He recently revealed he had rejected one consortium’s £40million bid, while talks with various other interested parties have stalled.
Newport County: The League Two club have announced on social media that the kick-off for their game against Notts County is “likely” to be delayed after a fan took ill in the stands, prompting an air ambulance to land on the pitch at Rodney Parade. “We send our very best wishes to the individual concerned,” wrote the club on X.
Full time: Cardiff City 2-1 Peterborough
League One: Cardiff City have got their third tier campaign off to a winning start, coming from behind to beat Peterborough United in the Welsh capital. Rubin Colwill cancelled out Bradley Ihionvien’s first-half penalty with as good a free-kick as you’re ever likely to see at this or any other level, before teenage right-back Ronan Kpakio won the game for Cardiff with the first senior goal of his fledgling career.
Premier League transfer news: Callum Wilson has decided the famous West Ham striker hoodoo is nothing to be worried about and has agreed a deal to join Graham Potter’s squad on a free transfer after leaving Newcastle United in June. Wilson, 33, will sign a one-year deal with the London club.
Interview: In a predictably entertaining and at times poignant sit-down, veteran manager Neil Warnock recalls the time Crystal Palace’s data boffins stopped him from signing a young Virgil van Dijk for £4m after arriving at the deranged conclusion the Dutchman was “not quick enough”, discusses his unlikely bromances with Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger, and looks forward to seeing his name up in lights outside the London Palladium in September. Words: Donald McRae.
National League: Forest Green owner Dale Vince is one of the partners in an initiative where GPs can prescribe a day out watching his National League team as an alternative to antidepressants. And while the jokes obviously write themselves, it seems like a very good idea before a ball has been kicked in the current campaign. Eze Obasi reports …
Newport County: David Hughes has a wealth of coaching experience at the highest level but is enjoying his first real tilt at frontline management in his new role as head coach of Newport County, who have one of the tiniest budgets in League Two. Interview: Ben Fisher.
League One preview: Luton look the team to beat after back-to-back relegations and Stockport County have shown plenty of ambition in the transfer market, while Darren Moore’s Port Vale will be hoping to stave off the drop following their promotion last season. Will Unwin casts an eye over the runners and riders in the third tier …
League Two preview: MK Dons are many pundits’ idea of likely winners under Paul Warne and Bristol Rovers will be hoping theirs is a short stay in the fourth tier, while another difficult season awaits Accrington. Will Unwin gazes into his his crystal ball …
GOAL! Cardiff City 2-1 Peterborough United
League One: Ronan Kpakio, Cardiff City’s 18-year-old right-back, has just swept home his first ever senior goal to give his side the lead in the Welsh capital. It was a fine effort from some distance which came at the end of a good Cardiff move down the left.
Scottish Premiership: There are two Scottish Premiership fixtures today, with Kilmarnock and Livingston getting the ball rolling for the new campaign at 3pm (BST), followed by Rangers’ trip to Fir Park for their season-opener against Motherwell.
League One fixtures
Cardiff City 2-1 Peterborough (L)
Blackpool v Stevenage
Bradford City v Wycombe
Burton v Mansfield Town
Doncaster Rovers v Exeter
Huddersfield Town v Leyton Orient
Lincoln City v Reading
Plymouth Argyle v Barnsley
Rotherham United v Port Vale
Wigan v Northampton Town
League Two fixtures
Accrington Stanley v Gillingham
Barnet v Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers v Harrogate Town
Cambridge United v Cheltenham
Chesterfield v Barrow
Colchester v Tranmere Rovers
Grimsby Town v Crawley Town
MK Dons v Oldham Athletic
Newport County v Notts County
Salford City v Crewe
Shrewsbury Town v Bromley
Walsall v Swindon Town
Luton Town 1-0 AFC Wimbledon
League One match report: A late, unlucky Ryan Johnson own goal gifted all three points to the hosts and suggested that Luton’s fortunes might finally have changed for the better after back-to-back relegations. Matthew Dunn was at Kenilworth Road last night to see the opening game of the EFL season …
A new EFL season dawns
Once more on to the hamster wheel, as the marathon that is the new season’s EFL gets under way in earnest after last night’s League One curtain-raiser between Luton Town and AFC Wimbledon at Kenilworth Road. The Hatters were somewhat fortunate to come away with all three points, after Ryan Johnson capped an otherwise decent display by over-stretching for a header, only to loop the ball into his own net for the only goal of the game five minutes from time.
Today’s early action kicked off in Wales, where Brian Barry-Murphy is taking charge of his first game as Cardiff City manager. Yet to sign a player this summer after their relegation from the Championship, the Bluebirds are currently all square with Peterborough United after Rubin Colwill cancelled out Bradley Ihionvien’s first-half penalty at the Cardiff City Stadium with a wonderful free-kick.
Theirs is one of 10 games being played in the third tier today and with 12 more being played in the division below, we have no shortage of action to stay across. We’ll bring you news of the goals as they go in and flag up any major talking points along the way.
