BRISTOL CITY fans in the uncovered stand wore brightly coloured rain capes, though a mad few threw open their man-boobs to the elements and went bare-chested. “You dirty northern bastard,” they sang as Keith Southern crunched through tackles. The pitchside adverts were for scaffolders, a solicitors and “quality meats”. A small boy shimmied up the fence to the wasteground-cum-car park behind one goal to watch the first half for free. The pie stall was swamped. Football was back yesterday, Championship-style.

And it was back with all its curiosities and cruelties. In no division in England last season was the line between glory and calamity finer, the race for promotion resembling a bunch sprint in cycling from within a peloton of evenly matched riders and relegation coming to the back markers. So it could be in this campaign. Bristol City, one game from going up to the Premier League last season, were inferior to Blackpool, who finished in the bottom half, but won the game through one decisive moment in the 89th minute. Steve Brooker, their meaty substitute striker, came up with an unexpected shard of excellence with a goalless draw seeming certain. Lee Johnson delivered a free kick which the home defence could not clear and Brooker collected possession on the far side of the area and swivelled to thrash a shot across and beyond Paul Rachubka with his left foot. “It was a goal out of nothing,” said Blackpool’s manager, Simon Grayson, “but a high-quality strike.”

Those Bristol supporters (there were 1,521 out of an 8,244 crowd, apparently, according to a super-precise press box handout) went a little bit potty and a little bit too far, pouring past the stewards and over the barriers to dance on the pitch with Brooker. But it was a good-natured and short-lived pitch invasion. “They overcelebrated,” admitted City manager Gary Johnson. “It was a long way for them to come though, and it was pouring with rain all day. I’m glad they’ll go back thinking it was worth the journey.”

Having ended last season with the agonies of defeat in the playoff final, starting with a win could be vital to morale. “We’re in credit,” added Johnson. “To come to Blackpool and put three points on the board on the opening day is massive because no one in this division knows how good they are going to be yet and Blackpool, with the players they’ve brought in, will feel they have a chance to compete.” One of those, Adam Hammill, signed from Liverpool, was the stand-out performer.

Quick and clever in possession and comfortable on either flank, he could be an important weapon for Grayson. Until Brooker’s intervention most of the game’s technical highlights came via his left foot.

Ben Burgess headed over one of Hammill’s gorgeous crosses in the 22nd minute and from another, just before half-time, Burgess nodded down for Keith Southern to thunder a shot at Adriano Basso, which the goalkeeper saved. Southern set up Hammill but though his shot beat Weale it flew wide of the post. Blackpool went close again with an Ian Evatt header, and again when a terrific knock down from Hammill set up Southern only for Weale to save at the midfielder’s feet.

City, unable to match their hosts’ bright passing, played more defensively and more directly. They posed their dangers on the counter, using Dele Adebola’s muscle to make space for Chris Maynard, his quick-breaking partner. Maynard was signed for £2.25m from Crewe and had a forgettable debut, snatching at a chance in the first half and then in the second steering his header wide of an open goal after being set up by his giant strike partner.

Then came Bristol’s Brooker prize. Their match-winner possesses decent pedigree but has suffered through injuries in recent seasons and went on loan to Cheltenham Town. Yesterday, suddenly, he went from zero to hero and people were talking about the Premier League. Fine margins. Football was back, Championship-style.

Star Man: Dele Adebola (Bristol City)

Yellow Cards: Camara (Blackpool)
Skuse, Orr, Weale (Bristol City)

Referee: G Laws

Attendance: 8,244