Boro's Scots recruits start with morale-sapping defeat

KRIS Boyd and Kevin Thomson had miserable Middlesbrough debuts on Saturday, but manager Gordon Strachan had no complaints after his new-look side stumbled to a 3-1 opening-day Championship defeat at home to Ipswich.

The bookies' favourites led at the break through a Scott McDonald goal but lost their way after Roy Keane's polished side scored twice in two minutes with a deflected strike from Tommy Smith and a Tamas Priskin effort early in the second half to take control, then Jon Stead sealed it late on.

It was Boro's first league defeat at the Riverside Stadium in 2010. "We can have no complaints," said Strachan. "The better side won. In the first half we did all right but football can be a cruel game."

George Burley got off to the perfect start as Crystal Palace manager, registering a thrilling win over Leicester 3-2.

A summer of financial uncertainly was pushed to one side in 90 enthralling minutes as last season's play-off semi-finalists were put to the sword in the first half at Selhurst Park.

Strikes from 17-year-old striker Wilfred Zaha, Darren Ambrose and Alan Lee did the damage, although goals from Andy King and DJ Campbell saw the Foxes come close to achieving a memorable fightback. Burley said: "It was a cracking game. The new owners have offered us stability. It was a tough time last season with administration. We have a tight budget but that is the way to run a Championship club, you don't want to have the same situation as before. The owners want to do things right and hopefully we can keep moving along in the right direction and bring in one or two players."

The match marked Burley's competitive comeback to domestic football after his spell as Scotland manager, and the former Ipswich and Derby boss was delighted with his return.

"It was great to be back. It was an honour to be a national manager but you miss the day-to-day work with the players," he said. "The Championship is a tough league but I know it well and it is great to be back and working with some great players."

Elsewhere in the Championship, Scotland cap Kris Commons scored Derby's winner from the penalty spot in a 2-1 win at Leeds, Chris Iwelumo scored the clinching goal for Burnley in a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest while David James' career at Bristol City began with a 3-0 defeat at home to Millwall. In yesterday's game, Cardiff fought back to draw 1-1 with Sheffield United.