MK Dons ended their EFL Trophy campaign after a 4-0 defeat at home to Swindon Town.

Ollie Clarke’s early goal followed by an Aaron Drinan hat-trick did the job for a Swindon side who needed a win by two goals or more to reach the knockout round.

The Dons were already mathematically confirmed as being out of the competition, with the result confirming they would do so with three defeats out of three.

The final match of the EFL Trophy group stage for MK Dons saw them aiming for an improvement on defeats against West Ham’s junior team and Reading in their first two assignments in the competition.

Both sides opted to make heavy rotations for the game, with both Paul Warne making ten changes from the weekend and Swindon boss Ian Holloway making nine alterations.

For the Dons, goalkeeper Connal Trueman was the only one retained from the draw at Barnet in their last outing, with teenager Jack Burke handed a first full start in one of their switches.

While MK Dons were already mathematically eliminated, Swindon arrived in Milton Keynes needed a big win to take a place in the next round and they had an early opportunity as Princewill Ehibhatiomhan missed the target from close range.

Former Swindon man Nathan Thompson missed an early chance for the Dons, but it would be the visitors who grabbed an early goal.

Swindon skipper Clarke would strike it, as he received Billy Bodin’s cross and saw a strike land in the back of the net despite Dons keeper Trueman getting a hand to the ball.

Despite losing Tom Wilson-Brown to injury, the visitors continued to cause the Dons problems, with Trueman making saves to deny Bodin and Ehibhatiomhan.

Swindon then got a penalty and a chance to make it 2-0 as the referee interpreted a challenge by Callum Tripp on Finley Munroe in the box as a spot-kick. Up stepped Drinan, who beat Trueman to grab a second for the visitors with 32 minutes gone.

Very quickly after making it 2, Swindon would then make it 3. Ehibhatiomhan had a shot at a free-kick deflected wide off of Thompson, and from the corner, Drinan got a touch to divert the corner home for his second goal in three minutes.

The visitors could’ve rubbed further salt in the wounds as Ehibhatiomhan was in a prime position to score from Bodin’s cross, only for Trueman to make a fine stop.

Clarke had one shot denied by Trueman and another sail wide of the target after the break as the visitors continued to look for more.

MK Dons did have their best major chance after the break, as Chase Medwynter saw a strike from Kane Thompson-Sommers’ cross denied by Lewis Ward.

Swindon grabbed a fourth with just under 20 minutes to go, as Drinan completed the hat-trick by glancing in Bodin’s corner.

Trueman would make a late save to stop Bodin from adding a fifth for the visitors, while the Dons would come close as Simone Troso saw a low shot just go wide.

But there was no way back into the contest for the Dons, who’s attentions will duly turn back to League Two action, starting with a home match against fellow top 5 side Salford City on Saturday.

MK Dons: Trueman – Thompson (Domi 78), Burke, Maguire (Guzynski 62) – Tripp, Crowley (Silver 87), Troso, Thompson-Sommers, Tomlinson (Mellish 45) – Leko (Osborne 87), Medwynter

Subs not used: Finch, Singh-Hurditt

Booked: Medwynter

Swindon: Ward – Ball (Gonzalez-Birchall 62), Tafazoli (Mabete 45), Wilson-Brown (Delaney 19) – Knight-Lebel, Kilkenny (Oldaker 62 (Wright 89), Clarke, Munroe – Bodin, Drinan, Ehibhatiomhan

Subs not used: Ripley, Wright, Glatzel

Goal: Clarke (10), Drinan (pen 32, 35, 71)

Booked: Clarke, Bodin

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pulled off a fine drive to finish on the podium from a pit-lane start at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

After a difficult Saturday where he could only qualify 16th, Red Bull opted to pull Verstappen’s car from the grid and start in the pit-lane with set-up changes and a new power unit.

The reigning world champion duly flew up the order, flying from starting in pits in a net 19th place start to finishing third, narrowly behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes in second.

Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda had a more difficult afternoon, meanwhile, as he finished 17th after picking up a penalty and then another penalty for not serving the first penalty correctly.

Although the race saw Verstappen pull off an acclaimed drive, at a track where he famously won from 17th in 2024, victory for Lando Norris means that Verstappen still faces a big task to win his fifth consecutive F1 world championship title. The Dutchman sits 3rd, 49 points behind the McLaren driver with 83 to play for in the final 3 races and single sprint. He is 25 behind second place Oscar Piastri.

Tsunoda sits 17th in the championship on 28 points, with the Japanese driver sat between the French duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

In the Constructor’s Championship, a weekend that saw Verstappen score 20 points in race and sprint combined helped Red Bull climb to third in the Constructor’s Championship. The Milton Keynes-based Red Bull team have 366 points, with the team 32 behind second place Mercedes and 4 clear of 4th placed Ferrari, who scored no points in the main grand prix in Brazil.

After a troubled qualifying, Red Bull opted to keep Tsunoda on his set-up but withdraw Verstappen and start him from the pits.

Verstappen had been able to close back up through a first lap safety car, which was thrown after a crash for Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber. But on the restart, Verstappen ran over debris and suffered a slow puncture, necessitating an earlier than intended pit-stop for the Red Bull driver.

After racing restarted, Verstappen duly began to use his new tyres to good effect, making multiple overtakes of midfield cars to rise into the top 10. He would also be further promoted as some drivers made early pit-stops, putting him back into the top 5 by lap 21.

The pace showed by the Red Bull of Verstappen was able to keep him as a competitive factor with the McLaren and Mercedes cars who were running in the top 4, with Verstappen also able to clear Piastri after the Australian was handed a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision on the restart after the first safety car that took out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

At one point, after making two stops with other drivers also pitting, Verstappen had been able to take the lead of the race, to the surprise of many onlookers. But Red Bull opted to be conservative, deciding that the tyres weren’t going to last to the end of the race and pitting Verstappen for a third time onto new softs with 17 laps to go.

The Dutchman returned to the track in fourth place, and would make a move on lap 63 to get ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes. But the best of the tyres would be gone by the time he reached the other Mercedes of Antonelli, and although he was able to get within DRS range, it wasn’t enough to overtake the Italian as Verstappen took third at the checkered flag.

It was still nonetheless a flying drive by the Dutchman, who was the first driver to take a podium from starting in the pit-lane since Lewis Hamilton did so at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Tsunoda meanwhile had a very difficult afternoon. After making up some places on the initial start, the Japanese driver drove into the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the restart after the safety car, with the Canadian’s car spun around. He would earn a 10 second time penalty for this, and he would then also get another time penalty after the stewards ruled the first penalty had not been served correctly. His race wouldn’t recover and he was the last driver to finish.

F1 now has a 2 week break before the final 3 races of the season, which all occur on back-to-back weekends. The first of this triple header takes place in Las Vegas, which will hold a race on November 22nd.

Police are appealing for witnesses following a serious injury road traffic collision in Milton Keynes, for which a man from Northampton has been arrested.

The incident happened around 8.25pm yesterday (8/11) when a pedestrian, a woman aged in her fifties, was crossing Millers Way, near to the junction of Culberson Lane, and was struck by a red Ford Edge.

The pedestrian sustained serious, life-threatening injuries, and remains in hospital at this time.

A 50-year-old man from Northampton has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by careless driving and driving while over the prescribed drug limit. He remains in custody.

PC Steve Leathersich of the Roads Policing Unit said, “Our enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances of this incident which has left a woman with life-threatening injuries.

“I am appealing for any witnesses to please come forward and ask any drivers who were in the area at the time and have dashcam footage to review it, as it may contain important information about the collision or the moments leading up to it.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Thames Valley Police by calling 101 or submitting a report via the website, quoting reference number 43250571719.

Digital evidence can be uploaded directly to a dedicated portal accessible through the Thames Valley Police website for this investigation.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via its website.

MK Dons drew 2-2 with Barnet in North London after recovering from falling 2-0 down to their hosts.

Adam Senior and Mark Shelton had put the Bees two goals up inside the opening half hour, but MK Dons would recover as Jack Sanders and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing scored the goals to wipe out the home side’s lead.

Both sides created and spurned chances to take the win for themselves, but neither would, as the game ended all square at The Hive.

A draw means MK Dons sit 4th in the League Two table, as the lead of one of 4 sides level on 25 points after 15 games. They are 4 points behind Walsall and Swindon, who are tied on 29 points at the top of the table, with the Dons welcoming 3rd place Salford to Stadium MK in their next league outing.

MK Dons made a slow start against last season’s National League champions, with the visitors falling behind after 13 minutes. Nnamdi Ofoborh’s cross picked out Senior, and the latter drilled it past Connal Trueman to put the home side into the lead.

Just before the half-hour, Barnet would make it 2-0 from the penalty spot. Jon Mellish’s foul on Glover was penalised by the referee, and Shelton scored from 12 yards.

But the Dons would improve from this nadir and they grabbed a goal back in the final stages of the first half. Liam Kelly’s corner was flicked on by Rushian Hepburn-Murphy into the path of Sanders, who drilled his shot into the back of the net.

Barnet would have a goal disallowed in the second half when they were awarded an indirect free-kick only for Shelton’s free-kick to go directly in instead, falling foul of the rule and the goal was chalked off.

MK Dons knocked on the door after the break and 20 minutes after half-time, they would get their equaliser. Aaron Nemane’s cross wasn’t fully cleared and Mendez-Laing duly placed his strike past Barnet keeper Cieran Slicker to make it 2-2.

A feisty game duly opened up, with Luke Offord denied by a brilliant save from Slicker before Mendez-Laing hit the side-netting from a similar position to his equaliser.

But the visitors were unable to find a third and they would very nearly concede themselves, as Oli Hawkins bundled the Bees in front in the third minute of stoppage time, but before he could truly celebrate, an offside flag denied the Barnet substitute.

That brought an end to proceedings, and with it, the points were shared.