West Brom debutants shine, rude awakening for Norwich City: Five things we learned from Championship opening weekend as Birmingham City draw

Football is back and fans up and down the Football League were back supporting their clubs over the weekend after the summer break.

Midlands pair Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion both picked up draws.

The Blues drew 0-0 away at Luton Town, whilst the Baggies picked up a 1-1 at Middlesbrough.

Here are five things we learned from the first set of fixtures in the Championship....

Decent point for Birmingham

It has been a turbulent summer for Birmingham with the takeover situation and change of manager from Lee Bowyer to John Eustace.

A trip to Luton Town on the first day of the campaign was seen as a tough one for the Blues after the Hatters made the play-offs last term.

However, the visitors held firm and travelled back home with a point after a dogged defensive display.

Arsenal loanee Auston Trusy, who has spent his whole career to date playing in America, put in an impressive performance on his debut and is one to watch.

Debutants shine for West Brom

Like their rivals Birmingham, West Brom had a tough first fixture. They travelled to Middlesbrough to take on a Boro side who are also eyeing promotion to the Premier League this season under Chris Wilder, who has done it before with previous club Sheffield United.

Steve Bruce’s side fell behind after Isaiah Jones’ opener but were able to get themselves back in the game.

The match was end-to-end as both sides’ fancied their chances of winning it, but the quality of debutants Jed Wallace and Jon Swift shone through for the visitors as they found their equaliser, with the latter slotting the ball home on 51 minutes to ensure his side left with a point.

Hull City dark horses?

Hull City beat Bristol City 2-1 thanks to a last-gasp goal from Jean Michael Seri.

The Tigers have made some eye-catching additions this summer including ex-Fulham ace Seri, Turkey internationals Ozan Tufan and Dogukan Sinik, as well as the likes of Tobias Figueiredo, Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, Benjamin Tetteh and Oscar Estupinan.

Shota Arveladze’s side are one to watch in this campaign and their fans are certainly back on side after years of trouble under their previous owners.

Won’t be as easy as Norwich City think

Norwich City are being tipped for an immediate return to the Premier League but were beaten 1-0 away at Cardiff City.

The Canaries’ squad is littered with quality and they have managed to keep Teemu Pukki and Max Aarons for now.

Their boss, Dean Smith, knows what it takes to get out of the Championship having guided Aston Villa up a couple of years ago. However, his quest to get Norwich back up has started with a defeat and the Canaries looked a little stale in their first match.

This looks like a Daniel Farke team and Smith will want to bring in some of his own players before the transfer window closes.

Kompany catches eye

The spotlight was on Vincent Kompany on his return to English football and he began his tenure as Burnley boss with an impressive win over last season’s play-off runners-up Huddersfield.

The Clarets looked sharp and their new additions like Josh Cullen, Scott Twine and Taylor Harwood-Bellis all looked strong. Still early days of course but that win may have swept away any concerns of a hangover from last season’s relegation.