Luton Town picked up a first win in 13 Championship games with a 1-0 home win over Portsmouth.

Jordan Clark was the hero for the hosts as they defeated Pompey at Kenilworth Road, picking up a first victory since beating Derby in their last game before Christmas.

Success was also a first win for Luton under Matt Bloomfield, who won a league game for the first time as Hatters boss at the ninth attempt.

The win was enough to take Luton off bottom spot in the table, with Derby losing and Plymouth occupied by an FA Cup tie away at Manchester City. The Hatters rise to 22nd place in the table, with the Bedfordshire club now 2 points behind 21st placed Hull City.

The game had looked like a tricky assignment for the hosts, with Portsmouth arriving after a run of 3 wins in a row that had taken them further away from the relegation zone.

Chances were however few and far between in the opening stages, with the two sides taking time to work out ways to open up the other.

Portsmouth nearly opened the scoring for Luton, however, as an errant backpass by Regan Poole had to be covered by Nicolas Schmid before it crossed the line.

A few moments later, Luton scored first. A dangerous cross by Jacob Brown was diverted onto his own post by stand-in centre-back Marlon Pack, and in the right place to follow up was Clark, who blasted the ball into the back of the net.

It was Luton who looked likelier to grab a second goal after the break, with Alfie Doughty having a shot blocked and Schmid denying Clark from grabbing a second goal.

Portsmouth enjoyed possession dominance after the break, but the visitors weren’t able to turn that into a slew of chances to unlock the visiting defence.

The two best chances ended up falling for full-back Connor Ogilvie, who had the visitor’s only shot on target in the whole game with a looping header denied by Thomas Kaminski and a later effort from a Christian Saydee cross that barely cleared the top of the crossbar.

Both sides would have late penalty appeals rejected, but the Hatters ground out the success that they hope can be the springboard for their ambitions of avoiding back-to-back relegations.

Luton face a challenge in the pursuit of back-to-back victories next time out, as they travel to play promotion chasing Burnley next Saturday, with a big match away at fellow strugglers Cardiff City coming three days later.

Northampton Town missed out on taking a win after conceding a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at Exeter City.

Dara Costelloe’s goal just before half-time had put Kevin Nolan’s side in front, and the visitors maintained the lead at St James Park until Sonny Cox’s 87th minute equaliser brought the Grecians back on level terms.

The stalemate in Devon meant Northampton dropped a place to 18th after Peterborough beat bottom side Shrewsbury. The Cobblers sit three places and four points above the relegation zone with 12 games of the season remaining.

Northampton arrived looking to bounce back from a midweek home defeat by Barnsley, in a match that marked Lee Burge’s first start in goal since late November.

Costelloe saw a strike kept out by Exeter keeper Joe Whitworth, but the pattern of the first half saw big opportunities at a premium.

With 42 minutes on the clock, however, a breakthrough came the way of Northampton. Tarique Fosu had an initial shot blocked, but the loose ball fell the way of Costelloe, and the man on loan from Burnley duly lashed the ball into the bottom corner to grab the game’s opening goal.

The returning Burge had to be alert to keep Northampton in front at the break, with the goalkepeer denying Angus MacDonald before Ben Purrington missed the target with the rebound.

For most of the second half, Northampton kept Exeter at arms length, with the home side finding chances at a premium in their attempts to equalise and avoid adding to a run that had seen them lose 4 of their previous 5 outings.

In the final minutes of normal time, however, a chance fell Exeter’s way and was duly taken. Northampton only partially cleared a corner and from a ball back in, it fell for Cox to finish from close range.

Things could’ve been worse for Northampton, who needed defender Jordan Willis to block a Cox strike in injury time from finding the back of the net.

Northampton will look to return to winning ways on Tuesday night, with the Cobblers welcoming 4th placed Stockport County to Sixfields. It comes as part of a sequence for Northampton against teams at the top end of League One, who follow that with games against play-off chasing Leyton Orient and runaway leaders Birmingham City.

MK Dons have confirmed that the club’s Head Coach Scott Lindsey has left the club.

His departure was confirmed the day after a 1-0 defeat for MK Dons at home to Colchester United. The result means the Dons are now winless in six matches and as part of a longer run that has seen the Dons win just two of their last 16 League Two games, in a run that has seen the team fall from 3rd at the start of the sequence to 17th position.

Lindsey has left MK Dons after less than six months in charge, having joined MK Dons in September from Crawley Town as a replacement for Mike Williamson after the Dons’ former boss left to take over at Carlisle United.

Before joining MK Dons, Lindsey had been in charge of a Crawley side that won promotion from League Two via the play-offs last season, including 3-0 and 5-1 victories over the Dons in the two legs of the semis.

A run of six straight wins between October and December had lifted the Dons up the table, with Lindsey having taken over a Dons side in the bottom half after a slow start, but the collapse in form has seen them fall back down the table.

MK Dons did not confirm who will be taking charge of their next game against Accrington Stanley on Tuesday (04/03), with the club confirming that a further announcement will be made in due course.

In a brief statement, the club thanked Lindsey for his work and efforts in his tenure at Stadium MK.

The statement read, “Milton Keynes Dons have parted company with Head Coach Scott Lindsey.

“Everyone at MK Dons would like to sincerely thank Scott for his efforts during his time in Milton Keynes and wish him every success in the future.

“The club will be making no further comment at this time and will update supporters in due course.”

MK Dons were beaten 1-0 at home by Colchester United as their former midfielder Jack Payne scored the game’s only goal.

Just when it seemed like a game of few chances might be set to end without a goal, the referee awarded Colchester a penalty that Payne converted with 3 minutes to go, with a bad end to the day for the Dons compounded when Callum Hendry was sent off.

The defeat continued a miserable 2025 for the Dons, who have won just two games in the New Year and have seen their hopes of promotion all-but disappear. With 13 games of the season remaining, the Dons find themselves 17th in the League Two table, sitting 16 points off the play-offs and 13 clear of the relegation zone.

After a winless February saw the Dons fall further down the League 2 table, Scott Lindsey’s team arrived hoping for a result to try and get some wins on the board. They would face a tricky test to start March off, however, in the form of a Colchester United side unbeaten in 8 outings, albeit a side who had drawn their last three outings.

This would be a task made more difficult with defensive injuries and absences, leading to defender Callum Tripp being thrown into the starting line-up days after being recalled from Gateshead, in a back three alongside fellow Dons academy graduate Charlie Waller.

On a bright afternoon, it was the visitors with the first chance of note, as Jamie McDonnell’s strike was blocked at a corner before the ball was prodded wide.

The first half largely played out in a manner where both sides struggled to nail the final pass, with each team’s attacking players getting into good positions only to get the ball to release the striker and create the chance wrong.

One moment saw Lyle Taylor try his luck from way out, with the former AFC Wimbledon striker’s effort narrowly bouncing wide.

Taylor would then see an attempt blocked by Waller, with Payne also seeing a strike bounce wide via a deflection.

Danilo Orsi came close for the Dons moments later, with the January signing seeing a first time strike just miss the target.

Similarly close was Alex Gilbey, who picked up the ball a few yards outside the box and finessed a decent try that beat Matt Macey only to bounce just wide.

Colchester nearly took the lead with the first major chance of the restart. John-Kymani Gordon, who was booked after a first half fracas with the also-cautioned Joe White, was able to pick the ball up in space on the left flank, cut inside and place a crisp strike that bounced off the post.

This was at least closer than an effort a few moments later from Ellis Iandolo, whose effort from a half-cleared corner ended up going out for a throw-in.

Substitute Oscar Thorn also missed the target for the away side, as the visitors continued to have positive moments.

But MK Dons almost found the breakthrough in style. Substitute Scott Hogan had few options but managed to charge through the Colchester half to the edge of the box before a fine streak beat Macey only to cannon off the post.

This came in a period where the Dons seemed to ask more questions of their opponents, with Travis Patterson forcing a good save out of Macey, albeit with an effort that wouldn’t have counted after the referee gave a foul.

It seemed as though the game was however set to drift to a 0-0 draw, with the day’s first shot on target not coming until the 85th minute, as Colchester sub Ken Aboh saw a low attempt kept out by Connal Trueman.

A few moments later, however, Colchester were given an even bigger chance when they awarded a penalty. Just after coming on as a substitute, Kane Thompson-Sommers had been shadowing Payne’s run into the box when he was deemed to have handled Payne’s attempt to play it through.

Payne, who scored 7 times for MK Dons last season on loan, was trusted with the spot-kick, and duly sent Trueman the wrong way to put Colchester ahead.

As if that late sucker punch wasn’t enough, MK Dons’ hopes of finding an equaliser during six minutes of stoppage time were hindered straight away when they were reduced to ten men. During stoppage time, substitute Hendry was shown a straight red card after catching Kane Vincent-Young with a high boot, earning an early ejection from the field.

That ended up taking the spark out of the Dons’ hopes of finding an equaliser, with the hosts now winless in six games.

MK Dons: Trueman – Tripp, Offord, Waller – Nemane (O’Reilly 79), White (Hendry 66), Kelly (Thompson-Sommers 83), Patterson – Crowley, Orsi (Hogan 66), Gilbey

Subs not used: MacGillivray, Tomlinson, Lemonheigh-Evans

Sent Off: Hendry

Booked: White, Gilbey

Colchester: Macey – Egbo (Vincent-Young 73), Kelleher, Flanagan, Iandolo – McDonnell – Anderson (Thorn 63), Gordon (Aboh 84) – Payne – Taylor (Read 73), Tovide (Simpson 63)

Subs not used: Smith, Hunt

Goal: Payne (pen 87)

Booked: Gordon, Simpson