MK Dons have announced the signing of Jon Mellish on a season-long loan from Wigan Athletic.
The 27-year-old is the Dons’ first loan signing of the 2025 summer transfer window, and their ninth signing overall following the previously announced arrivals of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Gethin Jones, Aaron Collins, Will Collar, Tom Finch, Callum Paterson, and Marvin Ekpiteta.
Mellish’ arrival sees the Dons add a player who can play in defence or midfield, including at full-back, with the Dons having sought an option at full-back after first-choice full-backs Gethin Jones and Joe Tomlinson recently suffered injuries.
Mellish had joined Wigan from Carlisle United in January, having previously spent 5 and a half years with the Cumbrians. He made 245 appearances in all competitions for Carlisle, scoring 32 times, while he also made 21 for Wigan after moving from Cumbria to Lancashire last season.
In an arrival interview on the MK Dons website, Mellish said, “I felt quite comfortable coming in, I think it’s a really good club, a family club, and speaking to the gaffer, that was one of his main things, that family side of things aligned with me straight away.
“We’ve had a couple of phone calls, and straight away I had a good feeling, and that was one of the main reasons why I came, to have a good connection with the manager.”
Head Coach Paul Warne said he was delighted to add Mellish to his squad.
He said, “It’s good to have Jon at the club, a player that we’ve liked for a long period.
“He’s played against my teams before and has always been excellent; he’s also played in a few different positions. I like him as a left-back too; he’s a perfect fit.
“He’s athletic, clean with the ball; a winner, he’s had a promotion. He can score goals off set pieces and play higher up the pitch.
“I like players who can bring some real value to the squad.”
“He’s going to be a good fit and I look forward to watching him being involved at the weekend.”
A schedule has been announced for the Tour of Britain cycle race stage taking place in Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire.
The Lloyds Tour of Britain Men cycle race will hold stage 3 of its 2025 event on 4 September, with the event starting in Central Milton Keynes and run through to Ampthill in Central Bedfordshire.
Stage three of the Tour will get underway from Midsummer Boulevard, next to Milton Keynes Theatre and MK Gallery, at 11:30.
Spectators can find activities and entertainment from 9.30am onwards, including stunts, free bike checks from Trek and Dr Bike, and the opportunity to decorate your bike for free with artist Kerry Lemon. Visitors can also receive information about women’s bike rides and community bike clubs running in the city and take part in pedal powered fun tasks.
The race uses what’s known as ‘rolling road closures’, whereby roads will close for a short period when the race passes through. The organisers have said this is to minimise any dangers to athletes, officials, spectators and local people.
After leaving Midsummer Boulevard, the route will take a course through Marlborough Gate, Silbury Boulevard, Overgate, Childs Way (H6), Marlborough Street (V8), Chaffron Way (H7), Brickhill Street (V10), Station Road, Woburn Sands Road, Bow Brickhill Road, The Leys, Hardwick Road and Woburn Road before heading into Central Bedfordshire
The route will enter Central Bedfordshire via Woburn and Aspley Heath, before then continuing by heading south past Toddington, through Barton-le-Clay, then across to Broom and circle Old Warden, before continuing past Haynes, on its way to what is predicted to be a sprint finish to the line on Woburn Street in Ampthill.
Coverage of the race will be broadcast on ITV and TNT Sport. Daily highlights will also be broadcast on ITV4 and ITVX after the conclusion of the event.
One noted athlete confirmed as participating is Tour de France, Olympic and World champion Geraint Thomas, in what will be his final act of competitive racing before he retires.
MK City Council have confirmed that spectators are welcome along the route wherever it is safe to watch, with the Council expecting that many local people will be getting a front row view to cheer on the world-class cyclists as they pass by businesses and schools as well as homes.
Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, Cllr Lauren Townsend, said, “In just over two weeks we’ll be welcoming brilliant teams and dedicated fans to Milton Keynes for the return of the Lloyds Tour of Britain. Do come and join us on the day to cheer on these world-class athletes, soak up the atmosphere, and make the most of the free activities on Midsummer Boulevard.”
Luton missed out on the chance to record back-to-back home wins as they lost 1-0 at home to Cardiff City.
Chris Willock’s second half goal won the contest, with the Bluebirds victorious in the meeting of two sides relegated from the Championship last season.
Defeat to the Bluebirds means that Luton have now lost two of their last three matches, with the Hatters just unable to beat Nathan Trott in the Cardiff goal after he made multiple stops.
Cardiff arrived in Bedfordshire unbeaten and had early momentum, but Luton missed a presentable chance to open the scoring when Nahki Wells dragged a shot wide.
Callum Robinson mis-hit a strike from close range to open the scoring, while David Turnbull had a shot blocked.
The game duly began to become more open, with both sides creating and missing chances. Wells hit the side-netting for the hosts, while Trott made a stop to keep out Nigel Lonwijk.
Having missed from close range, Robinson nearly hit the jackpot from further out, as his strike from the halfway line had to be tipped wide by Josh Keeley in the Luton goal.
Trott then had to make a good stop to deny George Saville’s thunderbolt from outside the box, with the keeper also making a save to thwart Lasse Nordas.
The Cardiff keeper then made another big stop to deny former Bluebird Mark McGuinness in the opening phase of the second half.
With just over 20 minutes to go, Luton then found themselves behind. Willock stole the ball off Liam Walsh a few yards outside the Hatters box, before he was able to shimmy past 3 Luton defenders and fire a shot into the bottom corner.
Nordas would force a save out of Trott while Luton substitute Jerry Yates fired an effort wide.
Cardiff missed a chance to grab a second goal when Rubin Colwill fired wide when well placed, but the side from the Welsh capital kept Luton at bay to see the job through and pick up three points.
Luton will seek to bounce back next weekend when they play Burton Albion next Saturday.
Northampton Town picked up their first win of the new season with a 2-0 home win over Exeter City.
First half goals by Ethan Wheatley and Max Dyche did the job for Kevin Nolan’s Cobblers, who picked up a first competitive victory since beating Shrewsbury at Easter.
The win saw Northampton pick up a first win of the new League One season at the fifth attempt.
Seeking the move on from a midweek home defeat to Lincoln, the Cobblers made a flying start against the Devon club with a goal inside the opening minute.
Nesta Guinness-Walker’s pass released Wheatley, who cut inside, evaded a covering Grecians defender and fired past Exeter goalkeeper Joe Whitworth. The goal was Wheatley’s first since joining on loan from Manchester United.
Northampton continued to press in the hunt for a second goal and it would come after 16 minutes, as a deflected Tyrese Fornah cross ended up with Dyche, who scored the goal.
Things could’ve got better for the home side, who looked likelier in the first half to score than concede. Cameron McGeehan narrowly failed to strike from a long throw, before Fornah saw a volley just bounce wide and Whitworth made a stop to thwart Sam Hoskins.
Wheatley then saw a chance denied by Whitworth in the opening minute of the second half, as Northampton attempted to make it 3-0.
The Cobblers couldn’t quite create a multitude of further opportunities after that, but Exeter also struggled to create chances, with their best seeing Ethan Brierley denied by Lee Burge in the 90th minute of the game.
No further chances fell after that, allowing Northampton to toast a job well done as they got the previously elusive victory.
Northampton will now seek to make it back-to-back victories when they play Leyton Orient in East London next weekend.
MK Dons preserved their unbeaten start to the season as they came from behind to record a 2-1 win over Newport County.
Habeeb Ogunneye had given Newport an early lead at Rodney Parade, but a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing penalty brought the visitors on level terms before Callum Paterson put the visitors back in front.
Newport missed the chance to equalise when Bobby Kamwa hit the post with a late penalty, with the Dons seeing the job through to win in South Wales.
The home side would take the lead in the contest after six minutes. Ogunneye, on loan with the Exiles from Manchester United, was able to get the ball past MacGillivray, with the Dons keeper left annoyed by how the shot got past him.
Paterson had missed a chance just before the Welsh side opened the scoring, with the former Cardiff attacker later heading wide from a Liam Kelly corner.
Perhaps the Dons’ best opportunity for an equaliser came just before the half-hour mark when Alex Gilbey saw a strike blocked on the line by former Dons man Matt Smith.
Newport then missed a great chance for 2-0, with MacGillivray making a big save to keep out Michael Reindorf.
That proved more crucial after MK Dons equalised in first half stoppage time. A foul on Sanders by Lee Jenkins was penalised, with Mendez-Laing stepping up to score an equaliser.
MK Dons completed their comeback in the opening minutes of the second half when they made it 2-1. Paterson scored his third goal in four appearances as the summer signing from Sheffield Wednesday scored from a Kelly corner.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the visitors after taking the lead, however. Having lost Joe Tomlinson to injury in midweek, the Dons’ only other fit senior full-back Gethin Jones then pulled up with an injury of his own, with the Dons having to resort to playing a defence of four centre-backs.
Things then nearly got worse for the visitors when Newport were awarded a penalty with 21 minutes to go after handball by Luke Offord. But Kamwa, who scored a hat-trick when the Dons lost at Newport last season, saw his penalty striking the post, with MK Dons barely able to scramble the ball clear.
The Dons lost another player to injury as substitute Scott Hogan had to be replaced. But as the game got near the end, they were able to resist.
Newport had late chances, with Smith prodding wide before substitute Anthony Glennon fired over with the last kick.
But MK Dons held on, picking up a third win from the opening five games of the season in a result that maintains their unbeaten start.
Paul Warne’s side now turn their attention to back-to-back home games against sides who have also made bright starts to the season, as they play Walsall and then Grimsby Town in the next two weekends.
