Promotion favourite Newcastle given rude awakening by Fulham

London - Matt Smith's header made a mockery of Newcastle United's status as the favourite to go straight back up to the Premier League as Fulham ran out a 1-0 winner in its Championship season opener Friday.

Rafael Benitez's side could point to not being given what looked like a penalty for a handball against Ryan Tunnicliffe in the first half, but his team - which has seen £45 million of new talent brought in - rarely looked like taking the three points.

Indeed it was the host, after finishing 20th in the Championship last term and losing leading strikers Ross McCormack and Moussa Dembele in the close season, which played the most fluent football.

"Absolutely great to score my landmark goal with a header like that," said Smith.

"We didn't really pay much attention to the hype surrounding Newcastle and that they had to just turn up to win.

"We simply believed in ourselves," added the 27-year-old.

Newcastle's young captain, 22-year-old Jamaal Lascelles, accepted that the fire of the match and its competitive nature had taken them by surprise.

"This is definitely a wake-up call as to how hard it is going to be to return to the Premier League," he said.

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Smith, whom Fulham signed from Leeds United, headed home unmarked close to half-time for his 50th professional goal to give Benitez plenty to say to his players at the break.

They came out a bit more energised, but it was Fulham which could have gone further ahead if the referee Simon Hooper had looked more kindly on Sone Aluko being bundled over in the box by another of Benitez's new signings, Grant Hanley.

Matt Ritchie had Newcastle's best chance with a shot that was well saved by David Button, who then got down well later in the second half to deny the same player.