Aston Villa start campaign with defeat at Sheffield Wednesday

Aston Villa have begun life in the Championship with a 1-0 defeat at last season's playoff finalists Sheffield Wednesday.

Fernando Forestieri scored the only goal of the game five minutes from time to condemn Roberto Di Matteo to a loss in his first competitive game in charge.

The early stages of the match were cagey and hard-fought, with neither side allowed a clear-cut chance until the half-hour mark and Wednesday's Steven Fletcher leaving the park with a gash to the head.

The first goalscoring opportunity fell Villa's way as Jordan Ayew's cross was headed towards goal by Leandro Bacuna, who failed to trouble Owls goalkeeper Kieran Westwood.

Wednesday came close to breaking the deadlock in first-half stoppage time when Forestieri turned inside the box and attempted to curl one into the top corner, only to shoot high and wide.

The first shot on target came early in the second half when Ross Wallace played in the Italian striker, and he tested Pierluigi Gollini in the Villa goal with a low strike.

Villa upped the tempo in the latter stages and almost broke the deadlock on two occasions through Rudy Gestede, who was thwarted by Westwood twice in quick succession.

Ross McCormack raced clean through on goal in the 75th minute, only to be denied by the back-peddling Tom Lees, and Villa would go on to rue their missed chances.

Wednesday secured maximum points thanks to a howler from Gollini, whose botched clearance gifted a one-on-one opportunity to Forestieri in the 85th minute and the Owls striker made no mistake from close range.

Villa will have the chanced to put their first Championship points on the board on August 13 when they play host to Rotherham United, but have a League Cup trip to Luton Town to contend with before then.