Key Takeaways from League One’s Opening Weekend

EFL League One fans had to wait 104 days before they saw their teams in action again, and that wait finally came to an end last Friday. The opening weekend of the third tier had it all: comebacks, shocks, comical errors, and awesome goals. Leaving us with numerous insights on how the 2025/26 season might pan out.

Plymouth’s Uneasy Start Under Cleverley

Home Park hosted a tasty contest between recently relegated Plymouth Argyle and promotion hopefuls Barnsley in front of a bumper 16,000+ crowd. Greens fans were eager to see how new head coach Tom Cleverley would fare in only his second season in management.

Things got off to a perfect start for the home crowd when summer signing Caleb Watts slotted one home five minutes in, yet it was ruled out, and eight minutes later Argyle found themselves a goal behind due to an unfortunate own goal by Brendan Wiredu.

The afternoon gradually got worse for Plymouth, eventually going two goals down, before failing to capitalise on a Barnsley red card as the game ended 3-1 to the visitors. Cleverley criticised his side's defensive performances post-match. Communication-wise, Plymouth were poor and didn’t look comfortable against a team they would’ve expected to have been competitive with.

One positive the Devonshire side can take away from their opener is Watts’ debut performance. The former Exeter man is the first to make the move between Devon’s two EFL clubs in eight years, and technically scored two goals on Saturday, with one being disallowed. Wiredu, on the other hand, had a debut to forget as his own goal and a yellow card saw him pulled at half time.

Debut in new colours 🟢⚪
Goal ⚽
Voted player of the match ✅

Although his debut in new colours ended in defeat, Australian attacker Caleb Watts was a shining light for his Plymouth Argyle side earlier today.

The 23-year-old played the entire match and scored in Plymouth's 1-3… pic.twitter.com/2bS9F4BZyl
— Front Page Football (@FrontPgFootball) August 3, 2025

The treacherous League One fixture list continues for Argyle, with visits to Bolton and Lincoln awaiting Cleverley will want the next few weeks to go swimmingly to quash any talk that he is the wrong man for the job.

Two Screamers Ease Barry-Murphy Into League One Football Once Again

It has been four years since Barry-Murphy left Rochdale, the last club he was head coach of, and the Irishman’s return to League One action was a success with Cardiff City. Peterborough travelled to the Principality for just the second time in 13 years, and a first-half penalty - put home by Bradley Ihionvien - gave the Posh a surprise half-time lead.

Peterborough are desperate to put the woes of last season behind them, but will have to wait another week before they can get back to winning ways after two sublime strikes from Rubin Colwill and Ronan Kpakio saw Cardiff turn the game around.

The EFL is well and truly back as Ruben Colwill has scored an absolute BEAUTY for Cardiff City 💥🔝 pic.twitter.com/VNiw7FUwNo
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 2, 2025

The Bluebirds are one of the favourites to win the league; yesterday might’ve been a start to the relentless home form they need to secure the title. For Kpakio, it was a day to remember, as he made his 7th overall appearance for the club at the age of 18, marking it with a goal he will never forget.

"A moment to treasure!" 🥹

Ronan Kpakio has thumped home his first senior goal to complete the turnaround and give Cardiff the lead 👏 pic.twitter.com/Y7BxjHCGS7
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 2, 2025

Luton Lucky to Take Three Points

Visits to Kennilworth Road from London teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, and Spurs will still feel fresh to Luton fans, as their time in the Premier League ended just 14 months ago. Fast forward to the present day, and newly promoted Wimbledon became the most recent club from the capital to face the Hatters, highlighting just how quickly Luton were pulled down to earth.

Matt Bloomfield’s appointment as Luton head coach inspired the Bedfordshire outfit to lose three of their last 12 Championship games, almost pulling off a great escape. The decision to keep him around for their League One campaign was therefore pretty easy, especially considering how well he managed Wycombe in the third tier up until January.

Despite all the Premier League money and parachute payments, the Hatters relied on a single bizarre Ryan Johnson own goal in the 85th minute to win the game 1-0. Luton have been reluctant to spend this summer and look like they might require a few more bodies to truly put a claim to the League One title.

An absolute nightmare for Ryan Johnson as his header loops over his own keeper 😬 pic.twitter.com/fnsBEVIMAB
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 1, 2025

Newly Promoted Sides Will be Competitive

Wimbledon’s resilient display on Friday night was just the start of a promising weekend for the latest sides to come up from League Two.

Port Vale played with 10 men for an hour of their fixture away at Rotherham, yet only conceded two as they were narrowly defeated by two goals to one. Doncaster Rovers required a late Luke Molyneux penalty to beat Exeter City. And Bradford toppled Wycombe 3-1 upon their long-awaited return to the third tier.

Only three of the last 16 teams promoted to League One have gone straight back down (Crawley Town 2024/25, Carlisle United 2023/24, and Forest Green Rovers 22/23). The gap in quality between the third and fourth divisions is shrinking as we often see teams come up and compete straight away. That looks to be the case once again this season if the opening weekend is anything to go off.

Sam Nombe Up and Running Already

Four players scored a brace in League One over the weekend, and Sam Nombe was one of them. After finishing in the top ten League One scorers last season, the Rotherham forward was back at it again with a brace against Port Vale.

No forward won more #FantasyEFL points today than @RotherhamUnited's Sam Nombe 🔥

Starting the season with a brace ⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/hVZCEis8fU
— Fantasy EFL (@FEFLOfficial) August 2, 2025

The 26-year-old has hit 14+ goals in his last two League One campaigns, but this might finally be the season he goes a step further and claims the golden boot award, which has eluded him in his career so far. However, he will face competition from the likes of Alfie May, Davis Keillor-Dunn, and Stockport duo Kyle Wootton and Malik Mothersille all getting off the mark in their first match.