Luton Town let a 2-0 lead slip in a 2-2 draw at home to Oxford United.

The Hatters had put themselves in position to bounce back from defeat at Plymouth in their last outing when they took an early lead through Jordan Clark before Tom Krauß scored his first goal in English football to extend their lead.

But things then didn’t go to plan against last season’s League One playoff winners. Tyler Goodhram scored a goal back for Oxford in the final minute of regular time in the first half, before Ruben Rodrigues flicked in an equaliser less than ten minutes after the restart.

Less than a minute after coming on as a substitute, Luton midfielder Liam Walsh was then sent off for a bad challenge.

The game duly ended all square as Luton continue a tricky reintroduction to life back in the Championship.

Rob Edwards’ Hatters find themselves 18th in the division with just two wins from the opening 8 games, while they are 6 points behind the playoffs.

In their last game before the upcoming international break, Luton travel to another team relegated from last season’s Premier League when they visit Sheffield United on Saturday.

Red Bull have dropped the former Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo from their second team RB for the final races of the 2024 F1 season.

The 35-year-old Australian driver has been dropped with six rounds of the season to go. He will be replaced by Liam Lawson, with the 22-year-old Milton Keynes-based New Zealander taking a seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the rest of 2024.

Ricciardo’s exit came after it was widely reported over the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix a week ago that he was on the verge of being dropped, with the Australian giving a series of visibly emotional interviews after the race where he seemed to have accepted his time with the team and potentially F1 as a whole was up.

Lawson will take the seat in the RB team for the final six rounds, starting with the United States Grand Prix when F1 returns from a break in mid-October. The spell will be Lawson’s second stint at Red Bull’s second team when he stood in for an injured Ricciardo for five races last year after the Australian suffered a hand injury in a practice session.

RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies thanked Ricciardo and welcomed back Lawson in a statement when the decision was announced earlier this week.

He said, “Everyone here at VCARB would like to thank Daniel for his hard work across the last two seasons with us. He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the Team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit. Daniel has been a true gentleman both on and off the track and never without that smile. He will be missed, but will always hold a special place within the Red Bull family.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome Liam. He already knows the Team well. He drove for us last season, and coped well under difficult circumstances, so it’ll be a natural transition. It’s great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step. We’re looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together.”

Ricciardo had previously driven for the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull Racing between 2014 and 2018, having joined after two seasons with Red Bull’s junior team then known as Toro Rosso. He took 7 wins and 29 podiums with Red Bull, but after dissatisfaction emerged, he opted to leave Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season.

He spent two years with Renault and then a further two at McLaren, but was dropped by the latter at the end of the 2022 season following poor form in comparison to team-mate Lando Norris.

Ricciardo initially returned to the Red Bull fold as a reserve driver for the 2023 season, but was promoted to Red Bull’s second team, then known as Alpha Tauri, as a replacement for Nyck de Vries and to assess if he had the skills to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing.

But Ricciardo’s form was ultimately deemed to have fallen short of showing what Red Bull were hoping for to justify dropping Perez in favour of the Australian. He scored 12 points in 2024 before his departure, registering ten fewer points than team-mate Tsunoda.

MK Dons picked up their first win under Scott Lindsey and their first away win of the season by beating Harrogate 5-1.

Tommy Leigh put the visitors in front before goals by Joe White and Alex Gilbey in first half stoppage time extended their advantage.

Luke Offord sliced the ball into his own net got an own goal, which had provided Harrogate with brief hope of a comeback.

But that hope for Harrogate was extinguished when Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Sonny Finch added late fourth and fifth goals as MK Dons made sure of the points.

Victory was the first away success for MK Dons since April, when they also scored five against Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

It was also the Dons’ first win under Lindsey, who began his tenure as the MK Dons Head Coach with a draw away at Bromley on Saturday.

Success helped lift MK Dons up a few places in the League Two table. They rise up to 14th position, and they are 4 points off the playoffs after the first nine games of the new season.

A stretch of the A421 road between Milton Keynes and Bedford remains closed after flooding.

The A421 has been closed since last Sunday (22/09) after heavy rain flooded the carriageway in the Marston Moretaine area.

Since the flooding, the road has been closed in both direction between junction 13 of the M1 just south-east of Milton Keynes and the A6 in Kempston on the outskirts of Bedford.

Work has been ongoing over the last week to re-open the road, but it remains ongoing, with no date yet given for the re-opening of the affected road.

National Highways have said that efforts to clear the floodwater have been ongoing since the weekend. They have deployed a fleet of 25 tankers to remove water from the carriageway, which was estimated to be around 60 million litres in total, and at its peak was 8ft deep. The flooding of a local pumping station has also been noted as a factor that has significantly contributed to the issue. 

The agency have also said that an investigation and assessment will be carried out when the water is drained in order to better understand if there is damage to the road and if any repair work will be needed to safely re-open the road.

Martin Fellows, Regional Director for National Highways in the East of England, said in a statement that the work remained ongoing.

Fellows said, “The torrential weather experienced in this part of the country meant over a month’s rainfall fell in less than 48 hours. That overwhelmed the area and, for the first time we’ve experienced, flooded a nearby pumping station hampering our ability to deal this.

“This is an absolute priority as we don’t want people’s journeys impacted by disruption and all our efforts are focused on resolving this and getting the road open as soon as it is safe to do so.

“Given the ground conditions are so wet and we are having to transport the floodwater away from the immediate area and along pipework over 4km in distance, it’s important people realise the size of the task and this could take a number of days to resolve.

“I understand that people are curious and want to visit the scene but I would kindly request that members of the public continue to support us by staying away from the area so our work to tackle this issue can continue to progress at pace.” 

Diversion routes have been given while the road remains out of action.

Drivers heading from Milton Keynes towards Bedford are advised from the M1 J13 to take Bedford Road northbound towards Ampthill/Ridgmont, travel northbound on Bedford Road for approximately 7 miles, continuing as it transitions into Woburn Road, passing through Brogborough and Marston Moretaine and then re-joining the A421 at the Marsh Leys junction roundabout with the A6/A421.

Meanwhile, those heading from Bedford towards Milton Keynes are advised to exit the A421 southbound at the Marsh Leys junction with the A6 for Northampton, take the 2nd exit onto Woburn road, proceed southbound towards Wootton, continue southbound on Woburn Road for approximately 7 miles, continuing as it transitions into Bedford Road and passing through Marston Moretaine and Brogborough to reach J13 of the M1 before carrying onwards.