MK Dons boss Paul Warne accepted responsibility for a first-half display that ultimately cost his side in a home loss to Grimsby Town.
The Dons were 3-0 down at half-time against the Mariners, conceding 3 goals in less than 20 minutes and also having Jon Mellish sent off in a difficult opening period.
A second half comeback saw the Dons score at each end of the second half, but ultimately fall short in their aspiration to take a point.
Speaking after the game, Warne took responsibility, saying they had tried out a tactical tweak to try and exploit Grimsby’s formation only for it to backfire.
He said, “I have to own the first half. I went 4-4-2 as I thought if our two centre-forwards put pressure on their centre-halves, the way they play with full-backs that come inside, I thought we could stop them. We worked on it all week so in fairness to the lads, that’s on me.
“It’s just disappointing. They thoroughly deserved their lead at half-time, I’ve got no issues with that. We had to make changes during the half – Offord was on a booking and didn’t feel like he could get close or tackle so we had to change that.”
Warne ruminated that there was more than just the shape behind why Grimsby scored three goals, all of which came from moves down their left and the Dons’ right.
He said, “The goals, the shape was an issue, obviously, but none of the goals have come from a problem with the shape. They’ve come from missed tackles, not defending crosses or not stopping people coming inside. What could go wrong did go wrong in the first-half.
“I just feel like we let everyone down in the first 45 minutes.”
After the break, the Dons were able to improve in a reshuffle, frustrating Grimsby’s attack, scoring twice and playing more to his liking, but with Warne left with things to reflect on ahead of future assignments.
He said, “We were calm at half-time saying you can’t perform like that and need to show some integrity and effort. I just felt that second half, although we were a man down, it’s very difficult to criticise anything any player did. The work ethic and tackles were there. There was a bit more aggression and we weren’t trying to be too intricate and had much more of a goal threat. I leave knowing we have the players to perform but can’t perform at a level below where we should because against anyone in this league, you’re just not going to win.”
The Dons nearly stole a point late on when a Jack Sanders overhead kick narrowly cleared the bar, but Warne admitted it was just not to be.
He said, “Just from a pure keeping a 52 year old happy, if that overhead kick had gone in at the end, that would’ve absolutely ripped the roof off and been great. Not to be.”
Former MK Dons star Chuks Aneke has returned to League 2 after signing a deal with Shrewsbury Town.
The 32-year-old had been available after being released by Charlton Athletic at the end of last season, and he has now joined the Shrews on a deal of undisclosed length.
Aneke joined as a free transfer having been without a club, with the deal made in the window where free agents can still other clubs while out of the transfer window.
In his time with the Dons, Aneke scored 33 times in 94 appearances in all competitions, 19 of which came as he helped the team from Stadium MK achieve promotion in the 2018/19 season from League Two.
Aneke had joined the Dons in 2016 from Belgian side Zulte Waregem, having spent two seasons playing with the side from West Flanders after leaving Arsenal.
After leaving MK Dons, Aneke joined Charlton in 2019, spent a year at Birmingham City after leaving South London in 2021, then returned to Charlton in 2022. Across his two spells at The Valley, he scored 27 goals in 138 appearances.
Leaders at Milton Keynes City Council announced their backing of a national campaign from Marie Curie to secure a council tax exemption for residents with a terminal illness.
MK Labour, who are the largest party at MK City Council, have proposed a debate that would see Milton Keynes follow in Manchester City Council’s footsteps and introduce a Council Tax exemption in the city for people with a terminal illness, or a partner or family member in the same household, who have less than 12 months to live.
Research by Marie Curie, the UK’s leading end of life charity, has shown that people at the end of life face higher living costs alongside reduced income, leaving many to spend their final weeks and months struggling to make ends meet.
Cllr Lauren Townsend, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance at Milton Keynes City Council, said, “When someone is living with a terminal illness, their last weeks and months should be about time with loved ones and not having to worry about bills. By supporting this campaign, we want to ease the financial pressure on families at the hardest of times. This is a small but important step that can make a huge difference to people’s quality of life.”
“MK City Council would be only the second council after Manchester to implement this scheme, highlighting how across the country well-run Labour councils are ensuring people get support when they need it.”
The MK Labour motion will be debated at the MK City Council meeting on Wednesday 17 September.
In a statement promoting the proposals, MK Labour said they felt it would be likely that the Council would agree to bring forward a specific proposal to implement the council tax exemption later in the autumn with the ambition for the scheme to be in place in early 2026.
Dizzee Rascal will headline a Halloween-themed event at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on October 31st.
The Halloween Junkies event will be headlined by Dizzee, in an event that will run at the arena adjacent to the MK Dons stadium from 7pm to 1am.
Presented by Louder and Project One X, Halloween Junkies represents a brand new event in the UK’s live music calendar, intended to provide spectators with a night-long festival filled with a high-end production and lots of performers.
The promoters have confirmed additional names will be added in due course.
Tickets will go on general sale from 10am on Friday (12/09) through Skiddle, with pre-sale information available through Dizzee Rascal’s website.
MK Dons’ Group CEO Neil Hart said, “We’re absolutely delighted to be hosting Dizzee Rascal’s Halloween Junkies at the world-class Arena MK.
“Dizzee is one of the UK’s most influential artists, and we’re so excited he’s bringing his quintessentially explosive energy and brand-new boundary-pushing show to Milton Keynes.
“As well as football we want to bring as many live music events to our city as possible, and we know the people of MK are going to absolutely love seeing such an iconic artist unleashed!”
Dizzee Rascal has released 8 UK studio albums, in a career that has also seen him be a featured artist or outright performer on 4 UK number one singles, while he also famously performed as part of the 2012 Olympics’ opening ceremony in London.
Red Bull ended a win drought as Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Verstappen had a comfortable win in the end at the track in northern Italy, leading home the championship leading McLarens by over 19 seconds after breaking away from Lando Norris in the early stages and zooming off.
The victory was Verstappen’s first in 9 races, with his last having coming in F1’s last visit to Italy at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola in May.
It also saw Verstappen take success in F1’s fastest ever race to reach full distance. The Dutchman’s time of just over 1 hour and 13 minutes was just over a minute faster than the previous record set by Michael Schumacher’s time in winning at the same track in 2003, with Verstappen having previously set the highest ever average speed in an F1 qualifying lap when taking pole the day before.
It was also Red Bull’s first Grand Prix victory without Christian Horner and first win with Laurent Mekies as Team Principal.
Meanwhile, teammate Yuki Tsunoda was unable to make it back-to-back finishes in the points, with the Japanese driver finishing 13th after a early move onto hard tyres and contact with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson hindered his performance.
With 8 races of the F1 season remaining, Verstappen sits third in the Driver’s Championship. The man who has won the last 4 titles is currently 63 points behind second place Lando Norris, 94 behind championship leader Oscar Piastri and 36 ahead of fourth place George Russell.
Tsunoda sits 19th in the championship with 12 points, with the second Red Bull only ahead of Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan, who have scored 0 points in their turns in the second Alpine.
In the Constructors Championship race, meanwhile, Red Bull remain 4th in the championship, but find themselves in a close fight for 2nd. The Milton Keynes-based team are 41 points behind Ferrari, who currently occupy second, and 21 ahead of Mercedes in the position directly in front.
At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Verstappen had entered at the front of the field after flying to pole position the day before.
Verstappen faced a combative start, with the Dutchman cutting turn one under pressure from Norris, who had begun from second. Red Bull duly ordered Verstappen to let the McLaren through, but at the start of lap 4, Verstappen launched a comeback and re-took the lead of the race.
The following phase of the race duly saw Verstappen begin to build up a gap to the cars behind, with the Red Bull driver finding himself three seconds ahead by lap 10 and six ahead by lap 22.
Although the Dutchman did have a big blister on his front right tyre, the Red Bull was able to keep its tyres in nick until lap 38, before jumping back ahead of the McLarens when the two pulled over to pit in the final stages, albeit with some controversy over the sequence.
Verstappen duly sealed the job, taking the victory and with it his third win in 2025 and his 66th in F1 overall.
Things ended up being rougher for Tsunoda. The Japanese driver, who has failed to finish 3 of his previous 4 Italian Grand Prix races, had made a fine start, as he got ahead of the slow-starting Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
A few laps after being passed by Antonelli, Tsunoda opted to pit to try to cover off an early stop by the Haas of Oliver Bearman. However, Bearman overtook Tsunoda as he took advantage of having warmer tyres.
Tsunoda then had a run-in with Lawson, who had gone very early in changing to hard tyres, with the current and former Red Bull drivers seemingly making contact as they disputed position.
The two ended up running line astern for the rest of the race, with the duo bumped up a few places thanks to late stoppers such as Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, but Tsunoda was unable to take a point, with the Red Bull finishing 17 seconds behind Isack Hadjar, who took the final point.
Red Bull and the rest of the F1 paddock will take a week off next week, before F1 returns in two weeks time for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
