On Friday night, Tom Lawrence started the weekend off in style with a rare bullet header to win the match in the 94th minute for Derby, securing Frank Lampard’s first win as manager. Harry Wilson also made his debut in the same game but wasn’t able to have an instant impact.
Gwion Edwards was the probably the highlight of the weekend, making his Championship debut for Ipswich and played with flair that surprised many. He managed to score just 5 minutes in and showed natural pace and trickery that will hopefully grab the attention of Ryan Giggs for the upcoming Welsh squad. Ellis Harrison also impressed in his first game for the club.
Skip to 1:30 on the video here to see a blistering run by Edwards from his own half almost end with a stunning individual goal.
Chris Mepham started the weekend off in style for Brentford in their 5-1 win and has notably been handed the no.6 shirt for the season, showing he can definitely become a key player this season for his club. Now that Chester, Williams and Mepham are all playing Championship football, it will be interesting to see who misses out in the upcoming Wales matches.
Swansea began the new Championship season with an away win over Sheffield United and looks as though Connor Roberts is now going to become the regular right back for the Swans. In the same game, Lee Evans played 90 mins for Sheff Utd and Woodburn came off the bench, but was unable to have an immediate introduction. Joe Rodon was an unused sub for Swansea.
New signing from Peterborough for Preston, Andrew Hughes looks to have become first choice left back. We will soon see if the 26 year old is a potential new rival to Neil Taylor and Declan John. Chris Maxwell has for now lost his first choice place to Declan Rudd in the Preston team.
Elsewhere, Christian Doidge scored a brace for Forest Green in League Two. George Williams also played in the same game but came off just after an hour.
In FC Twente’s final friendly, on loan signing Matthew Smith from Man City scored the third goal in a 3-0 win over Turkish Süper Lig side Göztepe.
Gareth Bale scored yet another screamer for Real Madrid on Saturday evening in a 3-1 friendly win against Juventus (without new signing Ronaldo).
Behind the Goal 