Bolton marked their return to the Championship with a 2-1 home victory over Preston, their first win at this level since March 2019. The promoted side controlled much of the match and showed they may be more competitive than pre-season predictions suggested, although Preston nearly rescued a point late on.

Sam Dalby opened the scoring after Daniel Iversen spilled John McAtee’s shot, before Thierry Gale doubled Bolton’s lead with a curling effort. Jusef Erabi pulled one back in the 86th minute, but Liam Lindsay missed a close-range chance to equalise; elsewhere, Luton beat Reading 4-3 after coming back from two goals down despite Jack Marriott’s first-half hat-trick, with Gideon Kodua scoring in stoppage time.