lost 1–0 to Queens Park Rangers three days later for their second defeat of the season. A 1–0 win over Hull City came on 17 September, followed by a 2–2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday a week later. Steve Howard scored all three of Luton's goals. In between these two league games, Luton lost 1–0 to Reading in the League Cup. Luton ended the month with an impressive 3–0 win over the previous season's play-off finalists Preston North End to sit in third place in the table, drawing praise from Preston manager Billy Davies. Midfielder Kevin Nicholls won the Championship's Player of the Month award for his performances. The club beat Cardiff City 2–1 at Ninian Park on 1 October, midfielder Peter Holmes scoring one goal and setting up another. Bottom-of-the-table Crewe Alexandra beat Luton 3–1 on 15 October, but the club bounced back a few days later to defeat Norwich City 4–2 and return to their almost customary third place in the table. Plymouth Argyle scored a stoppage-time equaliser to deny Luton a win on 22 August, and the club then lost their fourth league game a week later, going down 1–0 at Coventry City. Off the field, Luton loaned out youth player Thomas Ward to Dagenham & Redbridge, midfielder Stephen O'Leary to Tranmere Rovers, and Calvin Andrew for a second spell at Grimsby Town. November and December On 1 November, chairman Bill Tomlins announced that the club had changed its plans to build a new stadium near to Junction 10 of the M1 motorway, after being told the site would not be viable if Luton Airport was to earn permission to build a new runway. Instead, the owners began exploring the possibility of building a new stadium in time for the 2008–09 season near to Junction 12 – almost six miles away from their existing home of Kenilworth Road. Manager Mike Newell exhibited the first signs of a strained relationship with the club's board, criticising the lack of direction from the owners and stating that "[the owners] have been in 18 months, so why has it taken them 18 months to find out they can't build a stadium at Junction 10?" The club lost three consecutive matches against Sheffield United (0–4), Burnley (2–3) and Norwich City (0–2) through early to mid-November, pushing them down the table to seventh place. Luton then beat Crewe Alexandra 4–1 and Crystal Palace 2–0,