Aaron Pressley’s first goal for Stevenage inspired a 2-0 win over Shrewsbury as Sky Bet League One football returned to the Lamex.

The signing from Brentford struck just before the hour to open his Boro account, before substitute Jamie Reid ensured the result in the 87th minute.

The victory made it two wins from two for Steve Evans’ men as they commence their first third-tier campaign since 2013-14.

Inside the first minute, visiting keeper Marko Marosi’s scuffed clearance fell to Josh March, but the Scotsman’s volley whistled narrowly over.

New arrivals Finley Burns and Dan Butler also went close for the hosts, but Shrewsbury’s Taylor Perry forced West Ham loanee Krisztian Hegyi to tip over his long-range thunderbolt midway through the half.

Boro’s match-winner at Northampton, Carl Piergianni, headed onto the bar three minutes after the interval.

Ten minutes later, Pressley swivelled and swept home from a low Luther James-Wildin cross into the area.

And the win was sealed when Reid’s header snuck past Marosi at the back post.

Ben Garrity was the matchwinner as Port Vale bounced back from a heavy defeat on the opening day of the League One season to claim a 1-0 win over Reading.

Garrity’s hugely-deflected shot settled the contest in the 72nd minute, earning Vale a morale-boosting victory after losing 7-0 against Barnsley last weekend.

Andy Carroll had a golden chance to put Reading ahead with a 12th-minute penalty after Nesta Guinness-Walker was fouled in the box by Dan Jones, but goalkeeper Connor Ripley denied him.

At the other end, Vale defender Alex Iacovitti fired the ball into the net just before the half-hour mark, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

The early stages of the second-half lacked goalmouth action but the home side looked more likely to break the deadlock.

The winning goal came 18 minutes from time as Garrity’s shot on the spin took a massive deflection before looping over debutant goalkeeper David Button’s head and in off the post.

Funso Ojo came agonisingly close to making it 2-0 in stoppage time, but his shot was saved by Button and came back off the crossbar.

Reading nearly equalised in the dying moments when substitute Lewis Wing’s cross-shot hit the bar, but Vale held on for all three points.

Portsmouth served notice of intent with a 4-0 away win at newly-promoted Leyton Orient.

First-half goals by Marlon Pack and Colby Bishop, an own goal after the break by Orient’s Omar Beckles and a penalty in added time by Kusini Vengi sunk the home side.

Pompey ran the show handing out a harsh lesson to their hosts in the standard of higher-sphere football.

The visitors went in front after 23 minutes when Pack met a corner, the first of the game, and saw his effort roll gently into the net off the inside of a post.

Christian Saydee and Colby Bishop both went close before the latter doubled the lead on 44 minutes. Man of the match Gavin Whyte sent in a cross from wide on the right,  Orient debutant keeper Sam Howes hesitated allowing the unchallenged Bishop to head into the net.

Orient’s plight increased on 51 minutes when Whyte sent in a teasing cross that Orient skipper Beckles turned past Howes.

Then three minutes into added time, Vengi stepped forward to convert a penalty after being fouled by Beckles.

Exeter and Blackpool had to settle for a point each in a drab goalless draw with Blackpool at St James Park.

It was a game where defences were very much on top and chances were sparse with neither side really doing enough to take all three points.

Exeter started well with Jack Aitchison’s shot deflecting narrowly wide and summer signing Aitchison should have scored on the stroke of half-time, but fluffed his lines when through on goal and Ollie Norburn got back to make the block.

Blackpool stepped things up at the start of the second half and went close through Shayne Lavery, but his header was punched clear by Vil Sinisalo.

Exeter went on to dominate the rest of the game and had plenty of possession, but Blackpool’s defence held firm.

Substitute James Scott fired high and wide for the home side, but it was Blackpool that should have won the game early in stoppage time when Matty Virtue was played in on goal, but he was denied by a brilliant stop by Sinisalo.

Scott Sinclair came off the bench to salvage a point for Bristol Rovers with a late goal in a 1-1 draw against Barnsley at the Memorial Stadium.

Nicky Cadden had blasted into the top left corner inside seven minutes, after collecting a Max Watters pass, to continue the Tykes’ early league momentum.

But veteran winger Sinclair converted low into the far corner after Luke Thomas continued a Rovers counter-attack with a chip over the Barnsley defence with nine minutes of the game left.

Oli Shaw almost rounded Rovers goalkeeper Matt Cox and Barnsley captain Liam Kitching cleared off the line in the closing stages, as both sides sought a winner.

Sinclair could have won the game as he headed over a Thomas cross on 83 minutes from just a few yards out, and Rovers also went close through several chances spurned by John Marquis, the closest coming when the forward struck the bar in the 61st minute.

Aaron Collins also squandered a great first-half chance as he dallied when clean through on goal.

Cambridge continued their winning start to the League One season with a 2 -0 victory over Fleetwood.

Fleetwood started well dominating possession and putting Cambridge under pressure, but they could not make it count.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring just after 30 minutes, with Saikou Janneh’s shot parried into the path of Paul Digby who tapped in the rebound.

Fleetwood almost equalised after the break, but Jack Marriott’s shot was well saved by Jack Stevens.

Cambridge eventually doubled their lead on the hour mark, with Gassan Ahadme towering over the Fleetwood defence to head home a corner.

The Cod Army responded by making further substitutions, which led to a few half chances, but they never troubled Stevens.

Scott Brown’s side continued to push, but the six minutes of added time was not enough to get them back into it.

Cambridge managed to hold on continuing a dream start for Mark Bonner’s side who only avoided relegation last season on the final day.

Second-half goals from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, Teddy Bishop and Daniel Mandroiu secured Lincoln a 3-0 victory over Wycombe at the LNER Stadium.

Forward Hackett-Fairchild rifled the hosts ahead with a sweet 68th-minute strike, before substitute midfielder Bishop doubled the lead just five minutes later with a clinical first-time finish.

Irishman Mandroiu finished the job with a fine strike five minutes from time.

Imps shot-stopper Lukas Jensen thwarted defender Jack Grimmer with a smart save early one, before midfielder Luke Leahy rifled a left-foot shot just wide for the visitors.

Danish midfielder Lasse Sorensen wasted a glorious chance to put the Imps ahead just before the half-hour mark, volleying over from close-range from Jaden Brown’s pass.

Lincoln forward Ben House was left frustrated after he was sent tumbling after a strong challenge in the box, but referee Adam Herczeg waved away shouts for a penalty.

Mandroiu tested Chairboys keeper Max Stryjek with a long-range strike, but the keeper was equal to the effort.

But Hackett-Fairchild broke the deadlock and Bishop put the Imps in control, before Mandroiu capped off a fine second-half showing with his first goal of the season.

Mark Harris’ first goal for his new club gave Oxford a 1-0 Sky Bet League One win over new boys Carlisle at the Kassam Stadium.

Carlisle had started brightly, with Callum Guy firing a right-footed shot just wide in the sixth minute.

Oxford were giving the ball away a lot in the early exchanges and struggled to create clear openings against the compact visitors.

The U’s eventually tested Carlisle keeper Tomas Holy in stoppage-time at the end of the first-half with a 20-yard effort from midfielder Cameron Brannagan.

Oxford improved after the break, with Harris racing through on the left, but delayed his shot too long and the chance went.

Ruben Rodrigues’ influence continued to grow and Oxford’s pressure told with 14 minutes left when substitute Tyler Goodrham fed Harris on the left – and the summer signing from Cardiff slotted past keeper Holy from 16 yards.

Goodrham also fired wide from a late chance and Holy saved from Brannagan.

Derby recorded a first-ever victory at the Pirelli Stadium as they beat Burton 3-0 in Sky Bet League One.

James Collins, skipper Conor Hourihane and Conor Washington all netted as the Rams got their season up and running after last week’s 2-1 home defeat to Wigan.

Collins, a former Albion loan player, struck an early blow, heading home in the seventh minute to convert Hourihane’s free-kick from the right.

Burton almost found themselves two behind a couple of minutes later, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing denied at close quarters by a smart save from Jamal Blackman.

Burton went close in the first half through Sam Hughes, who was twice denied by Joe Wildsmith in the Derby goal, while the Rams stopper almost gifted Albion an equaliser by firing a clearance straight at striker Josh Gordon that rebounded over the bar.

Max Bird should have added a second but inexplicably failed to convert a low cross from Mendez-Laing with the goal at his mercy just before the hour mark.

Hourihane’s calm finish with 12 minutes remaining gave Derby the comfort of a two-goal advantage before substitute Washington added a third late on.

Dion Charles scored twice as Bolton Wanderers continued their impressive start to the season with a 3-0 win at Cheltenham Town.

All of the goals came during a one-sided first half at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium.

Charles’ opener arrived in the 15th minute after a clever ball from Victor Adeboyejo set him up to slot confidently past Luke Southwood.

Southwood dived to catch Randell Williams’ header two minutes later and Kyle Dempsey curled one just wide as Wanderers continued to dominate.

It was 2-0 after half an hour when a free-kick from Aaron Morley was whipped towards the near post and Liam Smith deflected it into his own net.

Charles added his second and Wanderers’ third with a fine curling finish in the 33rd minute, giving Southwood no chance.

Morley forced Southwood into another save 10 minutes into the second half before Cheltenham’s penalty appeals were waved away two minutes later when Rob Street went down in the box.

Lewis Freestone’s header from Liam Sercombe’s corner was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Nathan Baxter in the 79th minute and Street forced another save in the final seconds, but Wanderers comfortably made it three wins from three in all competitions.

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho was relieved to see his side snatch a 1-1 draw at home to Bristol Rovers.

Debutant Kusini Yengi scored a stoppage-time goal to salvage a point after Luke Thomas had given Rovers a first-half lead.

“There are mixed emotions in the dressing room at the moment,” Mousinho said.

“If you had offered me a point with five minutes to go, I would have been happy to take it.

“We need to get a lot more shots on target and take advantage of some of the areas we get into.

“The goal came from probably the best cross we made all game.

“We will look back and reflect on not getting all three points.

“I felt that Rovers were a decent side. For their goal, we gave the ball away in the middle of the park. They broke quickly off of that and capitalised. They showed what they are capable of if they get a sniff of a chance.”

“They defended their box very well in the second half, but I was very pleased for Kusini with his goal.”

Constant heavy showers made playing football difficult, but Rovers forced the early pressure and took the lead in the 24th minute.

Pompey lost the ball in midfield and a quick break and a cross from Jevani Brown saw Thomas sweep the ball home.

His strike looked like it would be the winner but substitute Yengi saved the day for Pompey two minutes into added time.

Bristol Rovers coach Andy Mangan felt that a draw was probably a fair result.

He said: “Ours was a fantastic goal. We’d already had a couple of counters before that.

“We’ve kept them out whilst under a lot of pressure, especially in the second half, until the 92nd minute.

“On another day we would have taken all three points, and the lads are devastated to have conceded that late on.

“The lads should take a lot of confidence from their performance today. To come to Fratton Park and play the way we did at times, there are a lot of positives.

“We have to be deadly on the counter. I felt it let us down a bit today, and that’s something we need to work on.

“Pompey are favourites to go up, so to defend and play like we have is something the lads should be proud of.”

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson believes his side could have come away with more after they started life back in Sky Bet League One with a 1-1 draw against Fleetwood.

Owen Moxon opened the scoring for the Cumbrians with a 30-yard free-kick, but it was cancelled out by Brendan Wiredu’s strike just before half-time.

Both teams had chances to score the winner and Simpson was left to rue missed opportunities.

“I’m reasonably happy with a point out of it, but on reflection – and this is a real early reflection – we’ve had the chances to win the game today,” he said.

“We’ve had two really good chances in the second half, well created chances, but overall I’m really pleased to get our first point and it’s given us something to take confidence from and build for the next one.”

Moxon put the home side ahead in the 36th minute with a beautifully curled free-kick into the top left corner after he had been fouled by Scott Robertson.

Fleetwood equalised, though, in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time as Wiredu’s first-time volley flew into the bottom left corner after Huntington had headed clear Phoenix Patterson’s cross.

Jordan Gibson had a great chance to restore Carlisle’s lead just after half-time, but he miscued a shot from Fin Back’s cross with the goal gaping.

At the other end, Promise Omochere should have scored after Josh Vela’s cross broke his way, but he pulled his effort across goal and wide.

Substitute Joe Garner, formerly of Fleetwood, saw his late header saved by visiting goalkeeper Jay Lynch as the spoils were shared.

Carlisle are competing at League One level for the first time in nine years and Simpson is anticipating a tough campaign.

“We’re going to have to be fitter,” he added. “We’re going to have to be resilient.

“We’re going to have use the squad wisely and it’s going to be a real test for us.”

Fleetwood boss Scott Brown was also left disappointed by his team’s lack of cutting edge.

“They scored a fantastic free-kick and we had to dig deep to try and get ourselves back into the game, but these things are going to happen now and then,” the Scot said.

“Teams are going to score fantastic free-kicks like that, but we showed heart.

“We showed desire to get back into the game and I thought for long periods of the game we controlled the game.

“And, especially the longer the game went on, I thought we looked the fitter team.

“For myself, we’ve got to be proud of the lads on that, but we have to be a little bit more ruthless in the final third and have that little bit more quality as well because we got into some great areas.

“So it’s those small details we need to try and work on as much as we possibly can over the next couple of weeks.”

Wigan manager Shaun Maloney described Charlie Wyke as “special” after his double clinched a 2-1 League One win at Derby .

Wyke suffered a cardiac arrest during training in November 2021 and now plays with a defibrillator fitted in his chest.

Maloney was delighted with his team but acknowledged the significance of Wyke’s contribution.

“Charlie Wyke is a special case,” he said. “Any recognition he gets he deserves every single bit of it.

“What he and his family have been through I can’t put words to that really. It’s taken time for him to get in the mental condition and then physically, he’s come back in incredible shape this summer.

“From the very first days of pre-season, he felt like a different player.

“We’ve been really patient with him and I’m very, very happy for Charlie today.”

Wyke’s goals plus resolute defending and quality goalkeeping were enough to give Wigan victory against one of the promotion favourites.

Wyke seized on a poor back pass from Sonny Bradley to give Wigan the lead in the 38th minute but Derby levelled just before the hour minute through Craig Forsyth’s superb volley.

Sam Tickle denied Forsyth a second just before before Wyke headed in a cross from Tom Pearce after 72 minutes.

Derby piled on the pressure but Wigan stood firm and held on through nine minutes of added time to celebrate a win that cuts their points deduction to minus five.

Maloney was also happy with his side’s character, adding ““I couldn’t have asked for anything better really, the performance had everything.

“At times we were very good first half and then we had to suffer without the ball and had to defend in the last 20 minutes.

“I loved the heart my team showed and I know it’s the first game of the season but this one means a lot.

“The way we defended in the last 20 minutes, there’s a real satisfaction when you see your team defending with every single player putting their body on the line, they’ve got a bit of character about them.”

Derby head coach Paul Warne voiced his frustration, saying: “It’s always frustrating when you lose at home and I can’t say we played at our best today.

“There were some parts of our play that were really good and some parts which were a little bit frustrating but over the whole 99 minutes, I didn’t think we deserved to lose

“It was a pretty even game between two pretty good sides and it just came down to a couple of errors we got punished on.

“Wigan are a good side and if you give them an opportunity they are going to take it and they did.”

Reading manager Ruben Selles defended a section of the club’s fans for staging a sit-in protest after the 1-0 League One defeat at home to Peterborough.

About 200 supporters protested loudly yet peacefully, calling for the removal of club owner Dai Yongge for 40 minutes after a losing start to life in the third tier.

The Royals, who are under another transfer embargo, were beaten by a 43rd-minute strike from Posh skipper Ephron Mason-Clark.

“The situation at the club is very complex and has been very challenging,” new boss Selles said.

“With relegation last season and the challenge that we had in the summer (with the transfer embargo), I understand that the fans are disappointed.

“The fans have been living with the club in their hearts for their entire life. What we need to do now is do things for them to be proud of us.”

Of the game, Selles said: “We don’t like the defeat, we don’t like that feeling.

“But I think that we showed today that we are a good team. We showed that we can perform.

“We need to use this game as a booster to help us to form an identity that we want to find.

“We knew it was going to be difficult but we had some good moments in the game.

“We knew what to do in the first 30 or 35 minutes, we were very intense and knew what to do in possession and also in transition.

“After conceding the goal, we went into self-protective mode a bit too much. But we erased that in the second half.”

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson saw room for improvement from his side’s performance.

“It’s a pleasing result for us and a clean sheet as well,” he said.

“I was happy with elements of the performance.

“I didn’t think that we started the game well, we were a bit frantic and looked a bit nervous.

“But after the goal, I thought that we got more control and confidence.

“In the end, though, we had to dig out the result as Reading were putting a lot of balls into our box.

“The way the game is now, in terms of all the injury time, it can get the home crowd up.

“But we blocked a lot of things and I think that the players will really come on from that.

“It needs a lot of elements to win a game of football and toughing it out is one of them.”

Charlton manager Dean Holden felt his side deserved their 1-0 opening-day League One victory over Leyton Orient.

The game at the rainy Valley was settled by a first-half strike from captain George Dobson.

Holden was pleased his outfit put in a performance in front of a bumper home crowd and believed his side could have scored more.

He said “There’s a lot of expectation of supporters turning up with a lot of optimism. It’s important they see a team like today.

“We started really well, we started with intent, we ran all over Leyton Orient – they’re a team who have obviously had a lot of success winning the League Two title last year, playing a certain style.

“They wanted to play on their terms at times, so we needed to get on top of them and force mistakes, which we did.

“We should have won more comfortably, but we looked more solid defensively which was a bit of a concern last week in the pre-season (game) against Aberdeen.

“We had a lot of work to do this week, but credit to the players for taking that on board.”

Alfie May showed excellent footwork in the area to almost net his first Charlton game after four minutes, but Sol Brynn matched his effort.

At the other end, Ashley Maynard-Brewer had to turn away a Theo Archibald effort before the half-hour mark.

The hosts broke the deadlock a minute before first-half injury time. Corey Blackett-Taylor was given too much space down the left by Rob Hunt and his low cross found the foot of Dobson.

The visitors saw Tom James have his shot after 57 minutes deflected over the crossbar as they looked for a breakthough.

Substitute Panutche Camara missed a sitter in injury time to double the Charlton lead, but the hosts held on for victory.

Leyton Orient saw defeat in their first third-tier match since 2015 and were backed by 3,153 visiting supporters.

Head coach Richie Wellens believed an error for the goal proved the difference.

He said: “In terms of performance, we got it wrong just once. We had a lapse in the 44th minute when we gave the ball away, and then we didn’t get enough bodies in to cover.

“In the second half we dominated them and had so many counter-attacks, but we just took the extra touch rather than get our shots off.

“That’s what they did well, they got their shots off and made our goalkeeper work.

“We lost the game but it was a good day for us as a whole and we’ll take a lot of confidence from it.

“The biggest compliment I can take is the reaction of their manager at the final whistle – he was relieved.”