Tuesday 11 August 2015 19:00, UK
The Football League didn't disappoint on opening day with plenty of goals, shocks and even an act of unusual sportsmanship.
MK Dons sit as the surprise leaders at the top of the fledgling Championship table after a 4-1 win while QPR were beaten at Charlton on their return to the second tier.
With the help of former Preston and Bolton striker Kevin Davies, we have picked out five talking points from the first weekend of the new season…
MK make their mark
After pipping Davies' Preston to an automatic promotion place on the final day of last season MK Dons made a dream start to their Championship campaign as they won 4-1 at Rotherham.
The Dons were the top scorers in the country last year with 101 goals and Karl Robinson said the resounding victory at the New York Stadium was a "statement of intent" for the season ahead.
KEVIN SAYS: "Karl Robinson will be very pleased. They beat us to second place last year and they play a brand of football where they love to play the ball out from the back.
"Karl has done a really good job there and they have managed to keep hold of him over the summer. I think they will look at what Brentford and Wolves did last year in getting around the play-offs and see it is possible.
"I don’t think the gap is that big between League One and the Championship. There are a lot of big clubs in the league though.
"You need to keep your best players fit and try to get on a good run. The consistency levels need to be high as well.
"It’s possible but there are a lot of good teams in there and that has had a knock-on effect on the strength of League One as well."
Boro blunted by Preston
Newly-promoted Preston were in front of the Sky Sports cameras for their first game back in the Championship against Middlesbrough.
Aitor Karanka's side, who were the lowest scorers in the top eight last season, are expected to challenge for promotion but were held to a goalless draw at Deepdale.
WATCH: Preston 0-0 Middlesbrough
KEVIN SAYS: "Boro had one great opportunity but other than that they failed to create anything. The problem is when you are not making chances, is that down to the strikers or the players behind?
"They didn’t get their passing going, they weren’t sharp enough and it was a bit of a poor performance. You could see from the manager’s reaction afterwards that he was disappointed.
"Preston were really well organised, the manager went with three at the back to try and nullify the midfield area and stop Middlesbrough from playing. They limited their opportunities and made them look very average.
"They even had the chance to nick it in the last minute through Joel Garner but overall the manager was pleased with the fitness levels and energy. They will take a lot of confidence from that against one of the teams expected to go up automatically."
Concerns for Hoops and Blades?
QPR and Sheffield United are expected to compete for automatic promotion from the Championship and League One respectively this season.
But both sides had starts to forget as the Hoops were beaten 2-0 at Charlton and the Blades - who had gone unbeaten in pre-season under new boss Nigel Adkins - suffered a 4-0 thumping at Gillingham.
KEVIN SAYS: "It was disappointing for QPR. It’s so important to put in a good performance on the opening day, get some points on the board and try to hit the ground running. It wasn’t a great performance and there are potentially troubling times ahead for the club.
"There has been a lot of speculation over the future of Charlie Austin but you want to keep your best players and get back into the Premier League. It will be good for them to get that first win and when the transfer window shuts they can focus just on the football.
"They will be expected to be in and around the top six but it’s not easy. Not many teams bounce back. The only way to remedy it is to get back out on the training ground and work extra hard and find a way to solve it.
"Sheffield United are a huge club but that was a terrible start to the season. There are no excuses the first game of the season, it’s not acceptable really. Pre-season is pre-season, it’s designed to prepare you for the opening day.
"Sometimes a result like that can be a good thing because it can highlight your deficiencies and with the window still open it gives the manager a chance to go the owner and say, 'we need to strengthen in these areas'. But it’s not a great way to open the season."
Doncaster’s sportsmanship
The League One match between Doncaster and Bury looked to be heading for a goalless draw until an unusual incident in injury-time.
It all started when Bury goalkeeper Christian Walton kicked the ball out of play following an injury. Doncaster’s Harry Forrester tried to give the ball back to Walton from the throw-in - but his attempted pass flew over the 'keeper and into the net.
Rovers boss Paul Dickov urged the match officials to call a foul throw and disallow the goal, but when that didn’t work his team allowed Leon Clarke to go through unchallenged from the restart and score an equaliser.
"I’ve got the ultimate respect for Paul Dickov," said Bury boss David Flitcroft. "He's put football in a good place."
"I didn’t really think twice about allowing them to equalise," Dickov said. "It just wouldn’t have been right for us to take three points in the circumstances."
KEVIN SAYS: "I haven't seen anything like it before but it was great to see the outcome in the end. There was no intent from the player to score, it was just one of those things. It was nice to see the managers sort it out. It was the right decision and good sportsmanship.
"It would be interesting if it was the last game of the season and a team needed the goal to stay up, whether they would do it then. You’d like to think it would still happen at the end of the season but circumstances change. Paul Dickov definitely did the right thing which is good to see."
And finally...
It might only have been the first game of the season but Brentford produced a fightback fit for a decisive final-day, avoiding an opening-day defeat in dramatic style as they scored twice in injury-time to draw 2-2 against Ipswich.
In a meeting between last season's beaten Championship play-off semi-finalists, the hosts pulled a goal back in the 92nd minute through Andre Gray... before James Tarkowski bundled in four minutes later.
Meanwhile, Notts County made a winning start with a team almost entirely different from the one that started the 2014/15 season.
Captain Roy Carroll was the only survivor in the starting XI for County in their 2-0 win at Stevenage following a mass of new arrivals over the summer.