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Middlesbrough lose on return to Championship, Terry makes Villa debut

ByReuters

Updated 05/08/2017 at 18:56 GMT

Middlesbrough began life back in England's second tier Championship in disappointing fashion as they lost 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Wolves v Middlesbrough

Image credit: Getty Images

Leo Bonatini's 33rd-minute goal was enough to earn Wolves the points and ruin Garry Monk's first competitive game in charge of Boro who are one of the promotion favourites having been relegated from the Premier League last season.
Later on Saturday former Chelsea and England skipper John Terry makers his debut for Aston Villa at home to Hull City.
Wolves and Middlesbrough both invested heavily in new players during the close season with Wolves spending around 15 million pounds on Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves and Boro a similar amount on Nottingham Forest striker Britt Assombalonga.
It was Wolves, also under a new manager in former Porto boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who justified their pre-season billing.
Bonatini, on loan from Al Hilal, pounced on a mistake by Boro defender Daniel Ayala to fire past keeper Darren Randolph who joined from West Ham United in the summer.
Reading, beaten by Huddersfield Town in last season's playoff final, went down 2-0 at Queens Park Rangers for whom Conor Washington scored twice.
Fulham, another side fancied for promotion, were frustrated as they were held 1-1 at home by Norwich City after the visitors equalised late on through Nelson Oliveira.
Former England skipper John Terry began life after Chelsea by making his debut for Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw against Hull City in the second-tier Championship on Saturday.
The 36-year-old defender, who left Chelsea at the end of last season having played more than 700 games for the west London side, was named in Steve Bruce's starting lineup at Villa Park and completed the 90 minutes.
He could not celebrate a victory, however, as Hull's Jarrod Bowen cancelled out an early strike from Gabby Agbonlahor.
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