
Round-up of the first weekend of the new Championship season on Saturday Aug 8, 2009.
Derby County 2 Peterborough 1
Nigel Clough's Derby edged out Darren Ferguson's newly-promoted Peterborough as two footballing dynasties collided on the opening day of the Championship season at Pride Park.
All the pre-match hype centred around Clough versus Ferguson, scions of two of the most successful managers in the game, each twice winners of the European Cup.
And in arguably their biggest season to date in trying to forge their own reputations in the shadows cast by their fathers' formidable achievements, it was Clough who gained the upper hand.
Miles Addison put the hosts into a four-minute lead when he stooped bravely to head the ball past Joe Lewis.
Shaun Batt equalised for battling Peterborough from the penalty spot. But a poor goalkeeping error at the other end spoiled United's hard work.
Lewis flapped at Kris Common's corner and after a scramble inside the six-yard box, Gary Teale poked home the winner.
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Cardiff City 4 Scunthorpe 0
Michael Chopra scored a first-half brace to hand his side an emphatic victory over Scunthorpe at the new Cardiff City Stadium.
The club record £4m signing from Sunderland netted either side of a Jay Bothroyd effort as the hosts ran riot with three goals inside 24 minutes in the opening period.
Chopra - back with the Welsh club after an unsuccessful two-year spell with Sunderland - broke the deadlock after 21 minutes and bagged again on the stroke of half-time.
Bothroyd was also on target and Peter Whittingham converted a late penalty to ensure Scunthorpe endured a miserable return to English football's second tier.
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Leicester City 2 Swansea City 1
Martyn Waghorn and Dany N'Guessan came off the bench to score debut goals and give Leicester a winning start on their return to the Championship.
Sunderland loanee Waghorn and N'Guessan were introduced by manager Nigel Pearson with the Foxes trailing to Ashley Williams' header, but both scored in a three-minute spell to turn the game on its head.
Until then, the visitors had looked like clinging on to the win to end their opening-day hoodoo - they have now lost their first game in the past four seasons - especially when goalkeeper Dorus de Vries saved a Steve Howard penalty.
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Preston North End 2 Bristol City 2
Preston captain Callum Davidson struck a controversial last-minute penalty to complete a fine fightback.
City debutants Paul Hartley and David Clarkson struck second-half goals to put Gary Johnson's men 2-0 ahead.
Hartley fired home from the penalty spot in the 49th minute and Clarkson claimed a second nine minutes later when he converted a cross from fellow debutant Danny Haynes.
That looked to have sealed victory for the Robins but Jon Parkin's superb volley in the 82nd minute cut the gap and Davidson held his nerve from 12 yards in the closing stages.
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Crystal Palace 1 Plymouth Argyle 1
Alan Lee's second-half header was enough to salvage a point for Crystal Palace as they were held by Plymouth at Selhurst Park.
Krisztian Timar's early strike had given Plymouth the lead but Lee got on the end of Victor Moses' fine cross to send the home crowd into raptures.
Lee had only been introduced as a first-half substitute after summer signing Stern John sustained a suspected broken arm.
Both sides pressed for a winner late on, but neither could find a way through as the game became a war of attrition.
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QPR 1 Blackpool 1
Peter Ramage was the unlikely hero as QPR avoided defeat to Blackpool at Loftus Road.
Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes with Heidar Helguson hitting the bar, Rangers found themselves behind at the interval.
Ben Burgess struck a well-worked opener after 37 minutes, but Rangers returned to the ascendancy after the break, with Angelo Balanta striking the post two minutes into the second period.
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Watford 1 Doncaster 1
Malky Mackay and Danny Graham were denied dream starts to life at Watford after Doncaster secured a share of the points.
Graham, who joined Watford from Carlisle this summer, put the hosts ahead just before the half-hour mark.
But striker James Hayter headed home before the break to deny Watford, who had a new manager in charge for the second successive time against Rovers at Vicarage Road.
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Reading 0 Nottingham Forest 0
Jimmy Kebe spurned the best chance to give Brendan Rodgers a debut win as Reading were held by the 10 men of Nottingham Forest.
Winger Kebe stabbed wide from inside the six-yard box as Rodgers failed to inspire the hosts to a first win at the Madejski Stadium since January.
Billy Davies' Forest side had several good chances of their own but failed to find the target as the sides played out a repeat of the goalless draw they recorded on the opening day of last season.
Forest were reduced to 10 men with two minutes remaining when defender Luke Chambers was shown a second yellow card for an incident off the ball but Reading were unable to capitalise.
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Sheffield Wednesday 2 Barnsley 2
Barnsley hit back from two goals down to snatch an unlikely point in the South Yorkshire derby at Hillsborough.
Wednesday looked a class above in the first half and went in at the interval with a deserved two-goal lead through goals from Jermaine Johnson and Michael Gray.
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