SUBSTITUTE ADAM IDAH scored a late winner as Norwich battled to a 1-0 away win at Huddersfield to start life back in the Championship on the right foot.
The promising Republic of Ireland international striker was on the pitch for only five minutes but capitalised on a defensive error by Huddersfield’s Richard Stearman which proved fatal for the hosts.
Centre-back Stearman’s back pass went awry and Teemu Pukki — against whom Idah played in Irish colours during a recent 1-0 defeat to Finland — crossed for the 19-year-old Cork man to lash home from point-blank range.
There was a similar story for Idah’s compatriot James Collins, whose 71st-minute strike for Luton was enough to seal a 1-0 victory over Barnsley in their opening fixture at Oakwell.
Collins finished to get the Hatters’ campaign off to the ideal start in what was a clash between two of last season’s strugglers.
Daryl Horgan played all 90 minutes for newly promoted Wycombe but, in the last of those minutes, Michael Ihiekwe scored for the opposition as Rotherham left Adams Park with all three points. Two of Horgan’s fellow former League of Ireland standouts, Chiedozie Ogbene and Kieran Sadlier — both of whom also previously represented Cork City — started for the victorious visitors.
There was a start, too, for Mark Travers between the sticks for recently relegated Bournemouth but, while Jason Tindall’s side began their season with a 3-2 win over Blackburn, his 21-year-old goalkeeper had something of a day to forget: the Maynooth man was at fault for Bradley Johnson’s goal to make it 1-1 in the 42nd minute, failing to stop a speculative long-range effort to his left-hand side. Darragh Lenihan played the full game at centre-back for beaten Blackburn.
Spurs loanee Troy Parrott was ruled out of Milwall’s 0-0 draw at home to a Stoke side in whose squad James McClean also didn’t feature.
Football League Debut ✅
— Lincoln City FC (@LincolnCity_FC) September 12, 2020
Three Points ✅
Sean Roughan 👏 pic.twitter.com/zX63B5FZ35
In League One, Paddy Madden scored a 79th-minute winner for Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town as they saw off Burton Albion 2-1, while recently-turned 17-year-old Sean Roughan impressed on his Football League debut for Lincoln City. Five days on from his competitive bow in professional football during the Imps’ FA Trophy progression, the Dubliner started for Lincoln in a 2-0 victory over Oxford United and was withdrawn in the 90th minute.
Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship results
- Birmingham 1 Brentford 0
- Wycombe 0 Rotherham 1
- Bournemouth 3 Blackburn 2
- Preston 0 Swansea 1
- Millwall 0 Stoke 0
- Bristol City 2 Coventry 1
- Cardiff 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2
- Derby 0 Reading 2
- Huddersfield 0 Norwich 1
- QPR 2 Nottingham Forest 0
- Barnsley 0 Luton Town 1
