MK Dons are out of the FA Cup after a 2-0 loss to AFC Wimbledon at Stadium MK.
In a first round tie, goals either side of half-time by Matty Stevens and Omar Bugiel decided the contest in favour of the visitors, and in the process eliminated MK Dons from their FA Cup.
A miserable day for the hosts was compounded when midfielder Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was sent off for a second yellow card during the second half.
The result means MK Dons are out of the FA Cup in Round One for the fifth time in seven seasons, and also means a third straight defeat without scoring to post-Wimbledon FC rivals AFC Wimbledon after two league defeats to the South London-based side in March and September.
One of the most eagerly awaited ties of the FA Cup First Round provided an intriguing contest at Stadium MK, with the game being the first FA Cup tie between the two sides since the very first meeting of MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon back in 2012.
A reshuffled MK Dons side entered the game missing players, with Tom McGill, Laurence Maguire and Liam Kelly all absent from a side that had won the Dons’ previous 3 league games.
This meant starts for Craig MacGillivray, Dean Lewington and Kane Thompson-Sommers – the latter making his first start for the club – while Tommy Leigh was also given a recall.
The game began in a scrappy manner, with the two sides looking for a way through. Each side had an early moment, with Scott Hogan seeing a strike blocked for MK Dons before AFC Wimbledon spurned an opportunity after Lemonheigh-Evans was dispossessed.
Some full on tackles were seen, with Josh Neufville of the visitors earning an early booking for a rough tackle on Joe Tomlinson.
Chances began to appear, with the visitors taking the lead in creating opportunities. Stevens headed wide after being picked out by James Tilley before James Ball headed off target at a corner and two more corners saw chances fall the way of Myles Hippolyte, who had a chance blocked and another miss the target.
After surviving that, MK Dons then had a better burst, with Alex Gilbey seeing a shot just touched wide by a faint touch from AFC Wimbledon goalkeeper Owen Goodman before a fine recovery tackle by Joe Lewis denied Gilbey shooting room when he burst through to the box.
A few half-chances peppered the rest of the half, with MacGillivray making a stop to deny Alistair Smith before space opened up for MK Dons’ Thompson-Sommers only for Tilley to block his strike.
Just as it looked like the two sides would enter half-time level, however, AFC Wimbledon broke through. Tomlinson’s clearance was intercepted by Bugiel, who was able to flick a pass through for Stevens to control and convert, and in the process put the visitors in front.
Things then didn’t get better for MK Dons as they fell 2-0 down within five minutes of the restart. MK Dons failed to fully deal with a free-kick and from a second ball, Tilley’s deflected shot arced in front of the goal line but fell kindly for Bugiel, who raced in ahead of Lewington to lash the ball and take in the acclaim of the away fans behind the goal.
MK Dons needed a quick goal to spark hopes of a comeback but it never looked like coming, with the visitors coming close again when Bugiel broke through an offside trap but struck straight at MacGillivray.
Scott Lindsey threw on substitutes and a formation change to try to get going but the visitors continued to apply pressure, with Callum Maycock firing a shot wide.
Those comeback hopes were further dented when Lemonhaigh-Evans brought down Neufville, earning a second yellow and an early ejection.
A double stop from MacGillivray denied Bugiel as the visitors continued to look dangerous.
MK Dons saw some late chances, with Callum Hendry having a shot deflected over before AFC Wimbledon substitute Riley Harbottle nearly headed a free-kick into his own net.
But it was all in vain for MK Dons, who were left to lick their wounds after the defeat and a week of querying what went wrong ahead of next weekend’s league game against Swindon.
MK Dons: MacGillivray – Sherring, Offord, Lewington – Nemane, Lemonheigh-Evans, Thompson-Sommers (Williams 85), Tomlinson (Harrison 58) – Leigh (Wearne 58), Hogan (Hendry 85), Gilbey
Subs not used: Harness, Pritchard, Tucker, Ilunga, White
Sent Off: Lemonhaigh-Evans
Booked: Hogan, Lemonhaigh-Evans, Thompson-Sommers, Harrison, Gilbey
AFC Wimbledon: Goodman – Lewis, Ball (Harbottle 54), Johnson – Neufville, Maycock, Smith, Hippolyte, Tilley – Stevens (Kelly 88), Bugiel (Pigott 88)
Subs not used: Ward, Biler, Furlong, O’Toole, Williams, Ogunder
Goal: Stevens (44), Bugiel (50)
Booked: Neufville, Hippolyte, Stevens, Lewis
Northampton Town have signed striker Martyn Waghorn and TJ Eyoma on free transfers.
Both arrived due to being out of contract, with Waghorn available after being released by Derby County at the end of last season and Eyoma signed after his departure from Lincoln City at the end of last season.
The signings were announced on Friday (01/11), with both making their debuts for Northampton in the FA Cup against Kettering earlier today (02/11).
Northampton confirmed the two arrivals have signed on short-term contracts of undisclosed length.
Experienced striker Waghorn, 34, had spent most of his career playing in the Championship, representing such clubs as Sunderland, Leicester, Hull, Wigan, Ipswich, Derby and Coventry, as well as a spell in Scotland with Rangers.
Waghorn scored seven times last season in a second spell at Derby as he helped the Rams with promotion from League One last season.
Eyoma, 24, had made 148 appearances in all competitions for Lincoln, having joined the Imps first on loan in 2020 and then on a permanent basis in 2021 from his first club Spurs. The defender, who can play at full-back and centre-back, arrived after time out of the game following his departure from Lincoln.
The two signings mean that Northampton have confirmed they are now at the maximum squad limit under EFL rules.
Brackley Town will be in the Second Round of the FA Cup after they defeated Braintree Town on penalties at St James Park.
After a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes and no goals in extra-time, spot-kicks were ultimately the deciding factor to determine which side would progress to the next stage.
Both sides would miss a kick in the first five penalties and each side also missed their sixth spot-kick, with Brackley goalkeeper Jonny Maxted saving two penalties while Zak Lilley and Alfie Bates both saw efforts miss the target altogether.
With the seventh round of kicks, Braintree’s Kyrell Lisbie was the unlucky man as his spot-kick struck the post. That decided the game in the favour of Brackley Town, who won the shootout 5-4.
Victory in the tie was an upset as the Saints side of the National League North side progressed at the expense of their opponents in the National League.
Brackley’s victory sees them advance to the FA Cup Second Round for the first time since the 2020/21 season, with the draw taking place tomorrow (03/11) during the BBC’s highlights show covering the FA Cup First Round highlights.
Northampton Town endured humiliation in the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat at home to non-league neighbours Kettering Town.
An own goal by Kettering’s Connor Johnson had put the Cobblers in front during the first half, but they were unable to build on their advantage before visiting substitute Luca Miller equalised.
Kettering then grabbed a winning goal in the early minutes of extra-time, as former Newcastle striker Nile Ranger headed in a corner that proved to hand the Poppies victory.
Victory meant an upset for Kettering, who compete four divisions below Northampton in the Southern League Premier Division Central, with Kettering victorious in a competitive meeting with Northampton for the first time.
For Northampton, it meant another FA Cup First Round exit, with this being the fifth season in a row where Northampton’s interest in the tournament ended straight away, and for the seventh time in the last eight campaigns.
The game had been a big occasion, with the BBC choosing the game for live television broadcast as Northampton faced Kettering for the first time since 1989.
Kettering arrived back by numbers in excess of 1,400, with a side that currently lead the 7th tier division seeking the upset.
Ranger came close early on with a strike denied by Cobblers keeper Nik Tzanev, before a tight offside call went against Northampton.
The Cobblers thought they had taken the lead when Cameron McGeehan rifled the ball into the back of the net, but an offside flag in a tight sequence of play went against the Northampton attacking midfielder.
Just before the half-hour mark, however, Northampton opened the deadlock. Tarique Fosu’s strike deflected heavily off two Kettering defenders, with the pivotal one seeing the ball strike Kettering captain Johnson and pivot into the back of the net. The goal was later classified as an own goal by the Kettering man.
The hosts pressed in search of a quick second, with McGeehan missing the target before away goalkeeper Daniel Jezeph made two saves in quick succession to thwart Liam McCarron.
McCarron would be denied again just after half-time, but Kettering began to offer more, with Ben Hart seeing a shot kept out by Tzanev.
With 66 minute son the clock, Kettering equalised. Substitute Miller, who had just come on as part of a double substitution alongside former Celtic striker Gary Hooper, was able to get space for a header and the 19-year-old headed Hart’s cross past Tzanev.
Neither side could find a winner in regular time, however, with extra-time to be played and the threat of penalties looming.
Kettering, however, stunned the Cobblers when they moved in front within two minutes of the restart.
Miller’s corner picked out Ranger at the back post, and the 33-year-old was able to force his header past Tzanev to put the visitors in front for the first time on the night.
Northampton tried to go on the offensive to avoid defeat, but it would ultimately be futile as they were unable to find the equaliser to force penalties, instead slipping to a shock defeat in front of a national audience.
Red Bull picked up a double points finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil, but a penalty saw Max Verstappen denied a podium.
The original results of the 24-lap abbreviated sprint race at Interlagos saw Verstappen finish third and team-mate Sergio Perez classified eighth.
But around two hours after the race finished, Verstappen was handed a five second time penalty after he was deemed to have committed a virtual safety car infringement.
The penalty was applied for an incident that happened on the final lap. After two laps under VSC conditions following an on-track breakdown for the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, Verstappen was deemed to have exceeded his permitted delta time for VSC while trying to challenge the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
The applied penalty means Verstappen finished fourth, dropping back behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who had crossed the line within five seconds of Verstappen at the end of the race.
With Norris winning the sprint race, it means that he gains slightly on Verstappen in the standings for the Driver’s Championship with 4 full races and one sprint remaining in the 2024 season. Norris is 44 points clear of Verstappen ahead of the full Sao Paulo Grand Prix scheduled to take place tomorrow.
Perez meanwhile picked up one point after overtakes on Alex Albon and Liam Lawson, albeit at the second attempt in the case of the latter, helped him get up to eighth position. The position is the last points position in the sprint format, although Perez narrowly failed to get past Pierre Gasly in the Alpine in the position ahead.
It is as yet unknown what Verstappen or Perez’s starting positions will be for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after wet weather lead to the postponement of qualifying as planned.
Qualifying is now scheduled to take place on Sunday morning, with a start time to be announced in due course, as well as any contingency measures if expected additional rain causes more issues.
