Skip to content

The FL72 Review with Peter Beagrie

Every Monday night the FL72 experts will review the Football League action on Sky Sports. First up, Peter Beagrie reflects on some of the key results from the opening weekend...

Image: Johnson: scored the winner as QPR overcame Sheffield Wednesday

QPR 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Birmingham 0-1 Watford

PETER SAYS: It was business as usual for Watford. It was the same old faces as well. Matej Vydra hasn't come in, but Fernando Forestieri was playing in the deeper role and played in Troy Deeney who was outstanding last year. He's a great front-runner for them and is a guaranteed source of goals.

Bournemouth 2-1 Charlton

PETER SAYS: Lewis Grabban is now just around the corner from his old stomping ground of Crystal Palace and he's a real threat. He's strong good in the air and has a lot of individuality. He can score goals, but what he's added to his game is wanting to get on the ball, wanting to have a bearing and some desire and consistency that was lacking. He'll be a very big player for them. Three points on the board and another 135 to play for. It is going to be a long season for Bournemouth and several other teams because when you go past your starting XI it could be difficult.

Leeds 2-1 Brighton

PETER SAYS: Ken Bates. Love him or loathe him, Leeds have got a football club because of him. Now that he's gone there's an extra few thousand on the gate and in a packed house with that incredible atmosphere it's great to go and watch football there. There are three new acquisitions including the goalscorer Luke Murphy, who is a midfield player who can grab a goal. Matt Smith is a big aerial threat, but they genuinely lack some width and that's something Brian McDermott would like to add plus maybe another centre-half.

Sheffield United 2-1 Notts County

PETER SAYS: I was very impressed with Sheffield United. They had a great unbeaten pre-season and made a lot of acquisitions. They played really fluently and reacted really well after Notts County, who didn't give in all game, equalised. But Sheffield United always had a gear to go up into, they expressed themselves, made them defend the width of the pitch and made use of the extra man.

Crawley 3-2 Coventry

PETER SAYS: At 2-0 down it would be easy for Coventry to feel sorry for themselves and I must admit they were backed by an incredible number of fans, even though a few unfortunately let them down with their frustrations. It would be easy for them to bury their head in the sand and go under in this situation, but they got back to 2-2 and lost right in the last minute. There's reasons to be cheerful for Steven Pressley.

Fleetwood 3-1 Dagenham & Redbridge

PETER SAYS: I think the outstanding League Two team were Fleetwood. We wondered how well the recruitments would gel with seven new acquisitions in there, but there were three goals from debutants. In Ryan Cresswell and Mark Roberts they've got real leaders and Jeff Hughes is a long-striding left-sided player. They look like great signings for the football club.

Newport 4-1 Accrington

PETER SAYS: How often have we seen it where teams coming up from non-league football on a sound basis have momentum and belief? They've made some great acquisitions and Chris Zebroski is one of them, who can score goals and play in a wide area. The manager Justin Edinburgh has got his first opportunity in the league and wants to grasp it with both hands. They don't want to be hanging around above the relegation zone. They want to make a real statement. Is your team not featured above? Don't forget you can see all of the Football League goals here on skysports.com every week. Sky Sports subscribers can sign in to watch FL72 - Review here

Around Sky