Life in the Championship began for Queens Park Rangers this afternoon. Following their surprise relegation from the Premier League, a visit from Sheffield Wednesday was first up on the 46-game schedule.
After going behind to new Owl Atdhe Nuhiu's fine strike, QPR went in up at the break thanks to quick goals from Nedum Onuoha and Andy Johnson.
Read how it all unfolded at Loftus Road in our minute-by-minute updates below.
Good afternoon! We've had a couple of games but now it's time for the first load of 3pm kickoffs of the new Football League season. Our feature match this afternoon comes from Loftus Road where Queens Park Rangers take on Sheffield Wednesday.
First things first, let me bring you the interesting team news coming out of Loftus Road...
QPR XI: Green; Simpson, Onuoha, Hill, Traore; Faurlin, Barton, Henry, Hoilett; Johnson, Zamora
WEDNESDAY XI: Kirkland; Palmer, Gardner, Zayatte, Mattock; Helan, Coke, Prutton, Antonio, Johnson; Nuhiu
One Joey Barton perhaps stands out the most from those two lineups. The controversial midfielder said earlier this summer that he would never play in the Championship, but here he is starting for Rangers. The central midfielder has openly said that he wants to be playing Champions League football but he's a long, long way from that at the moment.
Elsewhere in 'Arry's lineup, there are debuts for Danny Simpson and Karl Henry, with recent recruit Charlie Austin among the substitutes.
Visiting Wednesday also have two new faces in their side, with Kamil Zayatte and Atdhe Nuhiu making their Owls bows.
SUBS: Here are the two benches this afternoon:
QPR: Murphy, Dunne, Suk-Young, Wright-Phillips, Austin, Jenas, Derry
Wednesday: Davies, Taylor, Llera, McCabe, Semedo, Maghoma, Madine
Stand by for that tweet of Barton's I was telling you about earlier...
It's 447 days since Barton last played for QPR. He hasn't featured at all in pre-season yet Harry has given him a chance to prove his worth today. The hosts' bench is full of talent with Austin and another new boy - Richard Dunne - alongside the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Jenas.
Meanwhile, the Wednesday XI hasn't changed much from the side that narrowly avoided relegation last season. The likes of Michail Antonio and Jermaine Johnson ended the season injured so that's a boost for Dave Jones. It will be interesting to see how Nuhiu fares on this tough opening day trip.
Anyway, here come the teams to a raucous atmosphere in West London. The Owls' faithful always bring a decent number, and with that early-season optimism all corners of the ground are buzzing.
KICKOFF! Faurlin and Johnson get us underway at Loftus Road.
QPR are in their home strip of blue-and-white hooped tops, white shorts and white socks, while Wednesday are in their changed strip of all-black with yellow detailing.
LIVE SCORES: Keep up with all the goals as they go in with our live scores box on the right of this page.
"The Wednesday sing, United rang away!" The visiting fans are by far the loudest at the moment inside a packed-out and sunny Loftus Road. Little threat at either end so far, with Hoilett just letting fly from range but swerving it over the top.
At one end, Johnson's outside-of-the-boot cross is blocked by a black shirt before Antonio tries to run the length of the pitch on his own but overhits a touch.
SO CLOSE! Antonio has the ball stolen and Johnson bears down on the Wednesday defence before fizzing a low shot goalwards. It takes a slight deflection and beats the right hand of Kirkland but also the post.
SAVE! It's all QPR! It's Johnson again who is given too much room, this time just inside the area where he unleashes a volley that Kirkland has to beat away.
It's been a hectic start to the match. At one end Nuhiu gets his first shot away that's easily saved by Green before Hoilett fires wide down the other.
CHANCE! The ball breaks for Nuhiu in the QPR box and the 6'6" Austrian lunges forward to poke just wide.
Elsewhere in the Championship there's been a couple of goals, with Leonardo Ulloa putting Brighton ahead at Leeds and Jay Tabb scoring for Ipswich (my team!) against former club Reading.
Nuhiu has come to England as a bit of an unknown entity. He's started well here though, almost getting in behind Clint Hill but Green was there to smother the ball.
GOAL! QPR 0-1 Wednesday (Nuhiu)
Have Sheffield Wednesday bagged themselves a great signing? This is a fine goal from Nuhiu. He gets the ball outside the box and shimmies past one man before firing through a couple of challenges into the near corner. No chance for Green to stop that.
YELLOW! The first booking of the match goes to Wednesday's Palmer, who is playing out of position at right-back in place of the missing Lewis Buxton.
There's goals going in all over the place! Watford lead at Birmingham, Leeds have equalised against Brighton while Blackpool lead Donny.
The supporters at the opposite end to where Nuhiu rifled home the opener are in full voice. QPR got off to a flying start but since then Wednesday have got into the game. We've seen little of Mr Barton, who is sporting a longer hairstyle and dodgy headband.
There's currently a brief stoppage in play because Simpson is down receiving treatment. It looks like he'll be fine to continue though.
WHAT A CHANCE! Barton shows his quality with a fine deep cross that Hoilett simply has to guide into the net. He gets a tad too much on his volley though and it whistles just over the top.
Another injury timeout takes place as Wednesday's Mattock stays down. On the sideline, Redknapp looks disgruntled as chants of "YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE!" come from the Wednesday end.
We're back underway at Loftus Road as Mattock hobbles on. Not sure he'll be able to continue here. A comedy moment for the Wednesday fans as Barton touches the ball with his standing foot before slicing a clearance out of play.
GOOD SAVE! A cross into the middle from Simpson is flicked on by Johnson and that means that Zamora is unmarked at the back stick. He takes a touch before Kirkland races to meet him bravely using his whole body to parry it out.
WEDNESDAY SUB: Mattock isn't able to continue and that sees summer signing Jacques Maghoma enter the fray. That means that Helan will move to left-back. Just before the change, Palmer whipped in from the right and Antonio headed into the turf, with the ball bouncing wide.
Antonio screams for a penalty as he is brilliantly picked out by Prutton's ball over the top. The number seven was under pressure from behind by Traore and that could have easily been given. If it had been then that would have been a red card for the left-back.
GOAL! QPR 1-1 Wednesday (Onuoha)
It's a bit against the run of play, but Rangers have hit back. A short corner was worked to Hoilett, who dribbled away from goal before firing a cross-cum-shot towards the far post that Onuoha, unmarked, turned in from a few yards.
Rangers have got their tails up as a deep corner is met by Hill, with Kirkland holding on from close range.
GOAL! QPR 2-1 Wednesday (Johnson)
Dear me, it's all gone horribly wrong for the visitors. They were looking just fine a few minutes ago but now they're behind! A ball into the area loops up for the onrushing Barton at the back post. His header is brilliantly saved by Kirkland but the ball drops for Johnson to volley into an unguarded net.
By the way, just before Johnson scored that goal he had made two horribly bad passes and was far from impressing. I bet none of the home fans even remember that now.
FOUR minutes of added time at the end of the first half because of a couple of injury stoppages.
HALF-TIME: QPR 2-1 Wednesday
How easily we could have gone in with a completely different scoreline. Had referee Scott Mathieson decided to award Wednesday a penalty and send off Traore then it could very easily be 2-0 to the visitors.
However, it's wasn't a stonewaller and you could argue that Antonio went down too easily. Just a minute later QPR equalised and soon they were ahead thanks to Johnson's composed volley into the empty net.
If you've only just joined us and want a short update on the opening 45, read our HT report here.
As we're going to be a little delayed for the second half, why not check out this video produced by the Football League commemorating its 125th anniversary:
One man who I haven't mentioned today is Loic Remy. The Frenchman scored some lovely goals for Rangers in the Premier League and isn't even in the hosts' squad today, suggesting that he will soon move on. Newcastle are the club most heavily linked for his signature.
There's no real shock scorelines at half-time in the second tier, with one match already finished earlier in Burnley. It finished 1-1 between the Clarets and Lancashire neighbours Bolton. Read our match report here.
KICKOFF! Wednesday get the second half underway. No half-time subs from either boss.
Early chance for Johnson as QPR carelessly surrender possession. The Jamaican decided to go for goal but should have got his head up as he had a pair of teammates in support.
Barton clips the heels of Antonio, who had got the wrong side of the midfielder. Maghoma's resulting free kick is well defended.
BRILLIANT STOP! Barton shows his classy side by picking out Hoilett with a raking pass. The Canadian drifted inside and faked past two black shirts before seeing his shot beaten out by Kirkland.
WHAT A MISS! Oh my goodness, this could be miss of the season and it's only the first day of the campaign! Wednesday streak clear down the right and Johnson lays it across for Antonio 10 yards out. He has only Green to beat but mishits the shot which loops just over the crossbar.
First goal of the second halves goes to Nottingham Forest as they take the lead against Huddersfield through Henri Lansbury.
YELLOW! I wonder what odds you could have got on Joey Barton getting booked today?! He just has by bringing down Helan.
YELLOW! Another booking, this time for Maghoma, who is adjudged to have dived in the QPR box.
Looking at replays of that booking, you have to say that Barton go away with it slightly. He did leave a leg out which Maghoma tumbled over. Yes, the Wednesday man went down a little easy but you can't say that there wasn't contact.
SHOT! Henry, who has been very quiet on his debut, is dispossessed, allowing Antonio to run at the Rangers' back four and fizz a shot a couple of yards wide of the far post.
IMAGE! Here's Johnson celebrating his goal that sees QPR leading at the moment:
SUBS: Both sides make changes, with Austin coming on for his debut in place of Zamora before Wednesday youngster Rhys McCabe takes the place of Giles Coke in the Wednesday midfield.
OFF THE POST! Oh so close to a Wednesday equaliser. Maghoma collects on the left of the area and drills a low left-footer across goal. Green has no chance of stopping it and breathes a sigh of relief as the ball pings back off the foot of the left-hand post.
Austin has a chance to open his Rangers account when he is picked out at the back post. He's a bit on the stretch though and can only head into the ground, making it an easy save for Kirkland.
WEDNESDAY SUB: After an impressive first half, Nuhiu's time is up. He scored a fine goal to open the scoring but has been non-existent in this second half. Gary Madine his replacement.
QPR SUB: Mr 'I'll never play in the Championship' Barton has ben taken off for Shaun Wright-Phillips as we head towards the final 10 minutes. Solid performance from the controversial figure.
Not long left now. It's up to Wednesday to find an equaliser. You'd expect QPR to be able to protect the lead and maybe even nick a third on the break.
CHANCE! And that's exactly what Rangers almost do. Hoilett stretches his legs to beat the Wednesday defence and is denied by another fine Kirkland save. The Canadian stays down because of an impact after the shot and he'll soon be taken off I think.
Surprisingly, it's all QPR at the moment as Austin goes close with a looping header.
QPR SUB: Hoilett's afternoon does come to an end as Jermaine Jenas takes his place. I picked the winger out as one of Rangers' three key players this year and if he improves his composure then he could have a great year.
FOUR minutes are added on as Madine is just beaten to the ball by Green.
QPR are winding down the clock well here. No late heroics from Wednesday.
FULL-TIME: QPR 2-1 Wednesday
Antonio smartly beat his man down the left but then got hold up by the next man. He was brought down but referee Mathieson saw that time was up and blew his whistle three times instead of once.
The favourites for the division get their season off to a winning start then. The other relegated sides, Reading and Wigan, also bagged victories while it was a great day for Yeovil and Bournemouth, who won on their first games after promotion.
They must also be jumping up and down in Leeds where new signing Luke Murphy scored a last-gasp winner in front of the biggest opening-day crowd in years at Elland Road.
Click here to find all of today's scores from the Championship, League One, League Two and beyond. I hope your team got on well, unlike mine - Ipswich (sobs).
That's all we've got time for on this commentary. Thanks for joining Sports Mole. Make sure you keep it here for reaction from today's matches. From a Championship point of view, we're back tomorrow for the Sunday meeting between Derby and Blackburn. Coverage of that one begins at 3pm. See you then.
