Luton Town picked up a draw as they played out a 1-1 stalemate with Swansea City at Kenilworth Road.
A first half goal by Elijah Adebayo had put Luton ahead but it was cancelled out by Matt Grimes’ second half equaliser.
A point in a match played out amid ugly weather thanks to Storm Darragh saw the Hatters move up a place to 18th in the Championship table, with the team that were in the Premier League last season just two points above the second tier’s drop-zone.
Kick-off would be delayed at Kenilworth Road after a Luton supporter fell ill in the stands, with Luton Town later confirming that the fan was in a stable condition in hospital in an update.
That saw the game start 15 minutes later than intended, and would start in a busy manner. Swansea had an early chance when a Liam Cullen strike deflected off Žan Vipotnik and had to be clawed away by Thomas Kaminski, before Luton saw Adebayo saw a header just bounce wide.
Adebayo then broke the deadlock for the home side. A long ball had seemed to be under control by Ben Cabango, but the Swansea defender’s miscontrol was seized upon by Adebayo, who charged forward, drew out Lawrence Vigouroux, rounded the Swansea keeper and scored from a tight angle.
The visitors nearly equalised straight away when Josh Tymon had a shot kept out by Kaminski, while later in the half, Cullen and Tymon would both miss out an equaliser with opportunities for the Swans.
Luton nearly doubled their lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Daiki Hashioka fed Adebayo, who saw a snapshot well saved by Swansea keeper Vigouroux.
Most of the action was taking place at the other end, however, with Swansea’s Goncalo Franco seeing a firm strike repelled by Kaminski.
Just after the hour mark, Swansea equalised. A low corner by Tymon fell invitingly for Swans skipper Grimes on the edge of the box, who duly lashed a first time strike into the back of the net.
Kaminski was forced into a stop to keep out Swansea substitute Florian Bianchini, before fellow sub Jisung Eom missed the target with a header when well placed.
Ultimately, there would be no extra goals in the contest, as Swansea left Bedfordshire with a point and the Hatters now sit on a run of 3 games without victory.
Luton will seek to amend that on Tuesday, which will see them welcome Stoke City to Kenilworth Road.
MK Dons’ trip to face Barrow has been postponed due to conditions caused by Storm Darragh.
The weather has seen MK Dons have a second away game in quick succession postponed, with Storm Bert leading to the postponement of the Dons’ trip to Fleetwood last month.
MK Dons had been scheduled to play Barrow at the SO Legal Stadium at 3pm this afternoon (07/12), with the postponement announced earlier this morning as conditions from Storm Darragh worsened.
In a statement, MK Dons said, “The club have been in regular contact with Barrow and the EFL all week, who, until this morning, had advised continuing with the match arrangements as planned.
However, as conditions have worsened, areas of the SO Legal Stadium have become damaged, and following an inspection the local Safety Advisory Group informed both clubs in the last few moments the ground is not safe for supporters.”
The postponement means MK Dons will next be in action next Saturday, when they welcome Gillingham to Stadium MK.
Scott Lindsey was pleased with his MK Dons side making a fast start on their way to seeing off Chesterfield at Stadium MK.
The Dons’ Head Coach saw his side grab a first minute goal in beating Chesterfield, with Scott Hogan scoring after less than 15 seconds, before an Alex Gilbey double sealed the deal against a 10 man Spireites side.
Speaking after the game, Lindsey said that it was important for MK Dons to make a fast start in their first game in just over two weeks, having had an enforced break thanks to a postponement and an FA Cup-enforced hiatus. He was pleased to see the team respond in kind.
He said, “One thing I said in the meeting today and kind of the biggest talking point of the meeting before the game was we have to start fast because two aspects. First aspect is we haven’t played for sixteen days, so its a must we start really quick.
“Second aspect was we felt that Chesterfield had a really tough journey on Friday to Exeter, which is a long way, played in a tough game, got beat, had a tough journey all the way home and then had to travel again. I know its not miles away from here but it’s still another journey they’ve had to travel. So we felt that the start of the game was vital in terms of who would get a foothold in the game and who would win it.
“I couldn’t have asked for it to be better than it was.”
Musing on the game generally, Lindsey was also content with the general performance.
He said, “I thought we played well. I’m really pleased with the clean sheet and really pleased with the kick-off – it’s a routine I’ve been working on for about two years now and it’s the first time I’ve scored on it, so I’m delighted with that. But it was a good start and I think we played well in the game. I know they got a man sent off relatively early, but we’ve still got to beat a good side and we were good tonight.”
Victory means the Dons are now on a run of six in a row in League Two, which is two behind a club record of 8 in a row set in their promotion winning 2007/08 season. Lindsey said the team is in the mood to challenge or even surpass records and that the players’ work was worthy of praise in resisting the Chesterfield challenge.
He said, “Everything we do has to be positive. We talk about positivity all the time and talk about winning and promotion. We don’t hide away from what we want to achieve and I’ve been clear about that. We’ve been really positive and want to keep breaking records along the way. But the players were outstanding.
“To say we hadn’t played for sixteen days, it was clear to see the players had the bit between their teeth from the off. I think it was really clear to see the players had the bit between their teeth from the very off. So proud of them, really pleased with them. They (Chesterfield) are a really good side and even with ten minute, hit the post twice, so we got away with it a little bit there, but we know we’ve come across a good side, Paul Cook’s a good manager and we’re in pleased in the manner in which we’ve played and with the result.”
Northampton Town have confirmed that Jon Brady has resigned as the club’s first team manager.
Brady leaves after three and a half years in post at Sixfields, having taken over in February 2021.
The Cobblers confirmed that Brady made the choice to resign on Wednesday, filing his resignation letter the day after a 2-0 defeat to Stevenage that left Northampton in the League Two relegation zone.
The match at Stevenage had been Brady’s 200th competitive game as Northampton manager, with the 49 year old’s resignation ending a spell that had seen Northampton promoted in 2022/23 and have their highest finish in League One in 15 years last season.
Brady leaves after a six game winless run in League One that has seen the club fall into the relegation zone and where they also were knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Kettering.
Before that, Brady had enjoyed a successful run as Cobblers boss, taking the club to 4th in his first full season in charge and narrowly missing out on promotion, then winning promotion and comfortably keeping the club up last season.
Ian Sampson will be put in caretaker charge while Northampton search for a new boss.
In a statement on the club’s official website, Northampton chairman Kelvin Thomas praised Brady for his impact at the club.
He said, “Upon receiving Jon’s resignation yesterday, the Board of Directors have discussed matters and given the circumstances have agreed to accept.
“We really appreciate what Jon has done for the club, initially within the academy and over the last four years or so as first team manager.
“I personally appreciated Jon’s kind words earlier this week when he acknowledged how well supported he had been by the club, however we also all fully understand the real pressures that come with being a manager and while we all would have preferred things to be different, we understand Jon’s decision. We will now work with Jon and the LMA on his exit agreement.
“In the meantime we are fortunate that we have a talented, passionate and experienced staff, headed up by Ian Sampson, to oversee things in the interim and allow us the time to work through matters. We also firmly believe we have both the talent and quality within the squad and every confidence in the players at the club.
“It is clear we are a bit of a wounded animal on the pitch at the moment, but we know that the Cobblers supporters will always step up when needed and are sure they will get behind the lads at Sixfields on Monday.”
The Met Office has issued weather warnings for several days of heavy wind and rain for most of England.
The large area of central and southern, including around Milton Keynes, has assorted warnings for heavy wind and heavy rain over the next few days from today (05/12) through to Sunday (08/12).
Warnings for strong wind are already in place across Scotland, with a low pressure system set to bring more stormy weather south over the coming days.
The warnings are split into two separate bands. A first wave is forecast today (05/12) where gusty winds are forecast to be present in the area, with the strongest expected in the evening.
A combined warning for heavy rain and wind is then in play for the following three days. The warning issued covers the period from 3pm on Friday (06/12) all the way to Sunday morning.
The warning says that disruption to road, rail and power services is a possibility, depending on the weather’s severity.
The heavy weather comes only a few weeks after Storm Bert, which caused major flooding in Northampton and several other area of the country, including particularly bad flooding in South Wales. The cell would be named Storm Darragh, although has not officially been upgraded to a named status storm just yet in England.
Mike Silverstone, Deputy Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said, “While there is still uncertainty about the track and depth of the low pressure, Friday night and Saturday will be wet and very windy across parts of the UK.
“Some model solutions have the low pressure further north and much deeper, bringing very strong winds and heavy rain, whilst other model solutions have the low pressure further south and not as deep, still bringing unsettled weather but not as impactful.”
