IT was not only Burnley boss Stan Ternent who had a miserable start to the new season and no one had it tougher than Millwall's Mark McGhee.

The home game against last season's strugglers was the banker bet of the day as last season's play-off side were expected to make a positive start.

Clearly no one had told Rotherham United and certainly not striker Darren Byfield. He netted four times as the Millers hit Millwall for six in spectacular style.

There will be plenty who expected Norwich to suffer a hang-over after their play-off final defeat but they blew away the cob-webs with a 4-0 defeat of Grimsby at Carrow Road. Philip Mulryne and Paul McVeigh, key figures in last season's success, shared the goals.

The big three who came down from the Premiership immediately flexed their first division muscles as all won without conceding a goal.

Fabrizio Ravanelli was among the scorers for Derby County as Reading were given a far tougher introduction to the division than Brighton.

Leicester City enjoyed a great start at their new stadium with over 30,000 turning up to see Brian Deane net twice in the second half to defeat Watford. Former Rovers striker Billy McKinlay, who is playing for his future with the Foxes on a non-contact basis, did well for his new club.

Ipswich, who play in Europe this week, also won 2-0 with Matt Holland shining in the 2-0 triumph at the Bescot Stadium.

New Coventry manager Gary McAllister got of to a winning start with a 2-1 success against Sheffield United.

The Blades had taken an early lead but Coventry hit back before the break with Gary McSheffrey netting what proved to be the winner.

Another new manager, Stoke's Steve Cotterill, will have been satisfied with a goalless draw at Hillsborough.

A Guy Ipoua goal was enough to give Gillingham victory at Wimbledon where the home fans continued their vehement protest over the club's move to Milton Keynes.

Portsmouth, one of the few sides to add to their playing squad in the summer, got an immediate return with victory over Nottingham Forest, former Derby striker Deon Burton opening the scoring early on.

At Deepdale Marlon Broomes, pinched from under the nose of Ternent by Craig Brown, was not given a debut as the Lilywhites lost their first match under the former Scotland boss.

Like Burnley they had a man sent off with Erik Skora seeing red just after half time for a second bookable offence.

New striker Ricardo Fuller still managed to give North End the lead but Crystal Palace boss Trevor Francis, who has unhappy memories of Deepdale, still celebrated victory.

One man who might consider himself lucky not to see red is former Rovers player Nathan Blake.

He looked to head-butt David Wetherall during the goalless draw between Bradford and Wolves at Valley Parade yesterday but escaped with a yellow card.

The Bradford captain could hardly believe that he was also booked following the incident.