If an opening day defeat and being beaten by lower league opposition in the Carling Cup represents some sort of benchmark then Mark Robbins (Barnsley) and Billy Davies (Nottingham Forest) should take note.

Bristol City immediately appointed Steve Coppell’s assistant Keith Millen as their new manager: the former Brentford and Watford defender finished his career at Bristol City and was caretaker manager at the club after Gary Johnson left with nine games to go last season.

The first weekend of the new season resulted in five away wins – including a 3-1 Ipswich Town win at Middlesbrough – and only one draw. QPR thumped Barnsley 4-0 and Crystal Palace were 3-0 up at half time at home to Leicester but had to hold on for the last six minutes after the visitors twice in the second half. Hull and Burnley both won – as did three of the four clubs I picked to struggle!

Nottingham Forest, QPR and Sheffield United were the biggest casualties in the first round of the Carling Cup and the draw for the second round features three all Championship games – which means that only nine sides from the division will feature in the third round. It’s been nine seasons since a team from outside the Premiership reached the final of the competition and at this stage it looks unlikely that any of the Championship sides will end that streak.

Looking forward to this weekend, there are three games between teams that started their seasons with wins. Watford take on Coventry City at Vicarage Road, Hull City travel to Millwall and arguably the game of the day on Saturday is Ipswich v Burnley – although eight of the last ten meetings between these two at Portman Road have finished in draws and Burnley haven’t won at Ipswich since January 1970. Sunday’s televised game is between Leeds and Nottingham Forest (ko 1:15pm on Sky Sports 1) could also be a cracker.

There could also be some very early clues about which teams could face an uphill struggle. Having lost at home to Watford, Norwich City travel to Glanford Park to play Scunthorpe United, who won at Reading last weekend and defeated Oldham in the Carling Cup during the week. To add to their woes, Bristol City will be without striker Nicky Maynard until November at the earliest and will not relish the journey to Doncaster Rovers – South Yorkshire has not been a happy hunting ground for the Robins in the past.

Middlesbrough – another club with recent Premiership experience – are current favourites. Manager Gordon Strachan has bought in Kris Boyd from Rangers; if Boyd reproduces his outstanding goalscoring record in the Championship, he could be play a vital part in Boro’s promotion bid.

Although the clubs relegated from the Premiership shouldn’t be entirely written off, Burnley look the best equipped for a serious promotion challenge: Chris Iwelumo’s arrival from Wolves looks like a shrewd investment. Both Hull City and Portsmouth have off field issues that could hinder their efforts to make an immediate return to the top tier.

Two of the teams that reached the play offs last season should challenge for promotion places. Nottingham Forest were outstanding at home last season and Leicester City – where former Swansea City boss Paolo Sousa replaces Nigel Pearson as manager – look capable of maintaining their form from 2009/2010. Cardiff City’s prospects are unclear, but they should still be capable of a top ten finish, a prospect that both Ipswich Town and QPR will be hoping to achieve.

It’ll be interesting to see how the new arrivals from League One will perform. Champions Norwich City return after one season but may have to settle for a mid table finish; Leeds United will probably lead the division in attendance numbers, but their season may depend on how well new signing Billy Paynter adapts to the Championship. Millwall should avoid relegation but may have to be content with a bottom half finish in their first season at this level since 2005/2006.

A number of teams look as if they may struggle. Scunthorpe always seem to be punching above their weight but selling Gary Hooper to Celtic leaves The Iron without a proven goal scorer. Barnsley need to improve at home, Crystal Palace entered administration but eventually owed their survival to an outstanding away record that culminated in a win at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season.

However, every club in the nPower Football League Championship will start on equal terms when the season starts on the evening of Friday August 6th, when Watford travel to Norwich City (7:45pm kick off, live on Sky Sports 3).

castrol performance data

According to Castrol Performance data Scunthorpe United ’s Grant McCann has been Northern Ireland’s most creative player in the FIFA World Cup qualifying games so far.

McCann has not only scored twice during Northern Ireland’s campaign but has been directly involved with 38% of  the international team’s goals up until now. The Scunthorpe midfielder has assisted with three of the teams goals and has also set up 13 goal scoring chances.

Northern Ireland’s chances of progressing to the World Cup finals are pretty slim but not entirely out of the question, they would need a convincing result against the Czech Republic in their final group game and even then they would be relying on the unlikely event of San Marino beating Slovenia.

The Czech’s are only one point better off than Northern Ireland and their chances of making the finals are just as slim, but chances of a play off place for either team are still alive.

If the Czechs are to beat Northern Ireland they will have to be in better striking form than they were in the first game in September 2008, when they enjoyed 55% of possession without scoring at Windsor Park.

Newcastle had an early chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty following a hand ball by Damion Stewart, but Danny Guthrie’s soft spot kick was easily saved by the Rangers keeper Radek Cerny.

Wayne Routelege and  Ben Watson were particularly impressive as QPR threatened to add to their one goal advantage, but Newcastle fought their way back into the game during the second half and Marlon Harewood, on loan from Aston Villa, levelled the score with twenty minutes remaining.

The Newcastle striker had a chance to steal the points minutes later but could not quite direct Jonas Gutierrez’s cross goalwards.

Both managers spoke after the game about the strength and quality of the Championship this season and seemed content with a share of the points.

In last nights other Championship game Nottingham Forest beat Scunthorpe 2-0 in a hard fought battle, their first back to back wins this season. Luke Chambers and Dexter Blackstock scoring the goals.

Wycombe manager Peter Taylor says he is hopeful of  making another addition to the squad before Saturday’s friendly at AFC Wimbledon.

West Bromwich Albion have signed Simon Cox from Swindon Town, the 22 year old striker has signed a two year contract with Albion, with a transfer fee of £1.5million-rising to £1.9million with performance related add ons.

Cox was the top scorer in League One last season with 29 league goals, prompting West Brom to make a move for the player. Although the deal was arranged before Roberto Di Matteo joined as manager the Italian says;  “Simon is an exciting, young talent with bags of ambition, hunger and determination. I think he will be a great asset for our team next season.”

Scunthorpe United have signed Hibernian captain Rob Jones for an undisclosed fee, however it is reported a s being a club transfer record. The 29 year old defender said “It feels great to sign for Scunthorpe. It is nice to be back in England.”

And finally Darren Ferguson has signed an improved four year contract as manager of  Peterborough United. The 37 year old  says, “I’m thankful the chairman rewarded me for the success.  We’ve got a lot of unfinished business, we want to get the club into the Premiership.”