Republic of Ireland full-back Ryan Manning made a stunning impact from the bench as he inspired Southampton to an opening day comeback win over Wrexham at St Mary’s.

Josh Windass put Wrexham ahead on their return to the second tier of English football after a 43-year absence, converting a 22nd-minute penalty when fellow summer recruit Kieffer Moore was fouled.

Southampton – two divisions higher than Wrexham last season – pushed furiously throughout for reward, but they were fast running out of time when substitute Manning dispatched a superb 90th-minute free-kick.

Manning was not done, the Galway defender bursting down the left in the sixth minute of added time to deliver a cross that Jack Stephens lashed in off the crossbar at the back post and floor the club owned by Hollywood pair Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Manning was not the only Irish player to make a telling contribution, Gavin Bazunu pulling off a vital one-on-one save from Ryan Hardie to keep the deficit to 1-0 in the second half.

West Brom made a winning start against Blackburn in their season opener at The Hawthorns.

Isaac Price’s 15th-minute goal gave Albion a deserved victory in Ryan Mason’s first game in charge, with Aune Heggebo and Price again going close, while Blackburn’s only serious threat came from Yuki Ohashi’s saved shot. Republic of Ireland midfielder

Jayson Molumby played the full 90 minutes for the winning side, while Cork defender Sean McLoughlin made his first start for the visitors after joining from Hull City in the summer.

The hosts ended the match with 10 men after Darnell Furlong was sent off at the death.

Australian Adrian Segecic scored on his debut to give Portsmouth a 1-0 victory in a fiercely contested encounter at Oxford.

The summer signing struck in the 38th minute with a sharp follow-up finish after Jamie Cumming saved from Colby Bishop, who had broken clear from Cameron Brannagan’s poor backpass. Galway born centre-back Conor Shaughnessy was at the heart of the Pompey defeat as they began the season with a clean sheet.

Summer signing Harvey Knibbs scored a stoppage-time winner for Charlton as the Championship new boys made it a losing start for new Watford head coach Paulo Pezzolano.

Macaulay Langstaff made an instant impact from the bench as Millwall opened their campaign with an excellent 2-1 win at Norwich.

Introduced as an 80th-minute substitute with the game delicately poised at 1-1, Langstaff took less than three minutes to make his presence felt with a cool finish to settle a keenly contested encounter.

After a cagey first half the Lions quickly took the lead after the break with a fine finish from Camiel Neghli, only for a mistake from keeper Steven Benda to gift Josh Sargent an equaliser four minutes later.

Milutin Osmajic’s equaliser earned Preston an opening-day point in a 1-1 draw at QPR in the west London side’s first match under new head coach Julien Stephan.

Osmajic hauled Preston level after Ben Whiteman’s first-half own goal.

Stoke got their season off to a winning start after debutants Divin Mubama and Sorba Thomas both scored in stoppage time to secure a 3-1 win over Derby at the bet365 Stadium.

Summer-signing Carlton Morris had put the Rams ahead against the run of play on the hour mark, but it was cancelled out 10 minutes later by Lewis Baker’s bending shot from outside the box.

Dael Fry’s first goal in more than three years ensured Rob Edwards’ reign as Middlesbrough head coach got off to a winning start by delivering a 1-0 victory over Swansea.

Coventry and Hull drew a blank as their clash at the Coventry Building Society Arena ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

The Championship season had commenced on Friday night, with a tempestuous 1-1 draw between Birmingham and Ipswich Town, the visitors’ starting line-up containing no fewer than four Republic of Ireland starters – Dara O’Shea, Chiedozie Ogbene, Jack Taylor and Sammie Szmodics.