MK Dons have confirmed Scott Lindsey as their new Head Coach, with the Crawley Town boss taking over at Stadium MK with immediate effect.

Lindsey, 52, has been confirmed as the Dons’ replacement for Mike Williamson, who left MK Dons last week to take the vacant position at Carlisle United.

The move comes 4 months after Lindsey masterminded an 8-1 aggregate victory for Crawley over MK Dons in the League Two play-offs, as the Red Devils went on to beat Crewe at Wembley to win promotion in the play-offs.

The move also sees Lindsey reunited with Laurence Maguire and Liam Kelly, who both played for the Crawley team promoted under Lindsey last season.

MK Dons will be Lindsey’s third EFL job as a first team boss, having first got into management with a spell at Swindon Town before taking over at Crawley in January of last year.

Before becoming a Head Coach, Lindsey previously worked as a first team coach, being part of the set-up at Forest Green Rovers when they won promotion to the EFL for the first time in the 2016/17 season.

First Team Coaches Jamie Day and Carl Laraman and Goalkeeping Coach Steve Hale will be joining Lindsey at Stadium MK as part of the Dons’ new look set-up.

Speaking to the MK Dons website, Lindsey voiced his excitement to move to Milton Keynes and that he would be seeking to try and help the club deliver on their potential.

He said, “I’m so excited to be joining this wonderful football club. I think it’s clear to everyone just how much potential there is at MK Dons, and I’m thrilled to be joining Stadium MK to help achieve it. I’m really looking forward to working with Liam and Fahad to build an ambitious and exciting football team for the people of Milton Keynes to get behind. I can’t wait to get stuck in with the players, and look forward to meeting the supporters as soon as possible.”

MK Dons’ Sporting Director Liam Sweeting added that Lindsey was the Dons’ first choice target, and that he was looking forward to seeing what he could do with the club.

He said, “I don’t think it’s much of a secret to say Scott was our number one target from day one, so I’m absolutely delighted that he’s agreed to join the club at such an exciting time! When we started this process, it was clear that we wanted someone who would align with MK Dons but who also had a track record of improving football teams, improving players and displaying leadership traits we felt were important in the immediate future. Scott’s footballing record in recent seasons is phenomenal, proving time and again that he can maximise what’s in front of him and develop a brilliant coaching environment.

“The club is clearly in a fluid phase as we transition to the ownership of Fahad Al Ghanim, but I’m confident we now have a Head Coach who has proven he can navigate change, get the best of his players, and ultimately deliver on the pitch, so it’s an incredibly exciting day for MK Dons. Finally, I’d like to thank Crawley Town for the professionalism they’ve demonstrated over the past few days.”

Police are appealing for witnesses following an assault that took place in a pub in Milton Keynes.

The incident occurred at around 12.30am on Saturday (21/9), at the Kensington Pub in Kensington Drive, Great Holm.

A man in his thirties was struck over the head with an object and required hospital treatment. He has since been discharged.

Thames Valley Police released a profile of two offenders who were involved in the incident.

One of the offenders is described by their report as a white man with dark brown hair, aged between 19 and 23 and he was wearing dark blue or grey jeans and a grey hooded top.

A second offender was also described as a white man, aged between 19 and 23, and was wearing a black T shirt and had braces.

Investigating officer, PC Callum Czajkowski, based at Milton Keynes police station, said, “I am appealing for any witnesses to this assault to please come forward.

“Anyone with information or footage relating to the assault should call 101 or make a report on our website, quoting reference number 43240454203.

“Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via its website.”

Roads and railway lines in the areas around Milton Keynes have been affected by flooding.

The closures come after very heavy rain fell in the local area over the last few days. Milton Keynes City Council have said that between Friday (21/09) and today (24/09), over 255mm of rain was measured as falling on the city, well in excess of the monthly average for September of 55mm.

Flooding lead to multiple road closures on Monday (23/09) in the wake of a particularly severe rain cell, with some roads remaining closed as of Tuesday evening.

One closed road is the A422 between Chicheley and Astwood, which MK City Council have stated will only reopen when safe to do so and when the road surface is clear of debris and mud.

The B526 to Weston Road, Lower Weald, Loughton’s School Road, Simpson Road and Broughton, as well as Riverside, Priory Street and Little Linford Lane in Newport Pagnell are all affected.

Another major closure is the A421 between Milton Keynes and Bedford, which is closed all the way from junction 13 of the M1 in the south east of Milton Keynes to the junction of the A6 near Kempston on the edge of Bedford. Significant flooding was reported near Marston Moretaine, where a pumping station that kept water from flooding onto the adjacent road was overrun.

Diversions remain in place around the affected area, which has closed part of a key road connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge.

National Highways have confirmed that three cars were also abandoned in the area affected by flooding that will need to be recovered before the road is re-opened.

Flooding also affected railway services on both the West Coast Main Line and Marston Vale Lines serving Milton Keynes.

Rail services on the West Coast Main Line were delayed due to flooding between Wolverton and Northampton that blocked tracks, with a temporary block and bus replacement services also actioned while the problems were investigated. The line would eventually re-open earlier today.

Meanwhile, major flooding on Monday (23/09) closed the Marston Vale route connecting Bletchley with Bedford, halting all trains on the route.

Network Rail have confirmed the train service will be suspended until next Monday (30/09) while rainwater subsides and engineers can work to drain the affected tracks.

The track operator confirmed that flooding affected signalling equipment on the track and power supply for the route’s railway equipment.

In addition, the volume of water on the track also impacted the level crossings along the line and Network Rail have said their engineers are working to bring the track and the crossings back into service as soon as possible.

Delays have been because prolonged and sustained rainfall have made it harder than usual to inspect the railway and there is still a substantial amount of water to disperse before testing can take place.

MK Dons’ caretaker Head Coach Dean Lewington saw positives and negatives from his experience in charge against Doncaster.

Lewington spoke after a busy 1-1 draw against Doncaster, which saw Ellis Harrison put his side in front after Doncaster’s Harry Clifton was sent off, before Harrison himself was sent off and the visitor’s Tom Anderson levelled late on.

The Dons’ captain was in charge after the loss of Mike Williamson, who left in midweek to take the job with Carlisle United.

Speaking after the game, Lewington reflected that the game was a challenging one as Doncaster’s early red card made the test a difficult one, and he felt the team’s resilience was something to work on.

He said, “I did enjoy it. It started raining a bit, which was annoying! But it was good. It was a strange one. The red card sort of changed the flow and tactical side of things. It changed what we worked on because against eleven, you want to go into certain areas and when they go to ten, they don’t come out and do the stuff you want them to do. We didn’t react great to the red card and when confidence is low, you felt that air around the place when it came. It’s something we need to work on and we need to be a bit more resilient.”

Lewington also praised the work of his team in the movement in making the goal happen.

He said, “That final third, you don’t score goals if it’s laboured. You have to be quick and dynamic in what you want to do, and we worked on it on Friday. It was a great goal. We’ve got players who can do that.

“We spoke about trying to maximise what we’ve got and make teams defend, and it was good goal. But in the second half, we just sort of lost that impetus.”

The Dons’ stand-in boss also mused that the players had been informed not to get into a situation that could lead to a red card, only to fall into the situation where they saw a player dismissed.

He said, “We even said at half-time that two Doncaster free-kicks were pretty soft with yellow cards and we said he’ll do this stuff so just be careful. How we got there was disappointing. Maybe 5-10 years ago, it’s a great tackle and everyone gets on with it, but times change and it’s just one of those.”

Despite that, Lewington said that he felt that he saw encouraging signs with basic attitudes in line with what he wanted and that there was something to work with going forward.

He said, “I said before the game I wanted to see a bit of fight and attitude and we got that. Everything else we can improve upon but that’s the base mark for the team – we go out and have a go and I felt we did that.”