Johnson Clarke-Harris equalized late for Peterborough as the club below the Sky Bet Championship drew 1-1 with Luton on London Road.
Although a point posh doesn’t do too much for the hope of survival, as they are well away from falling from fourth-to-bottom, the result was minimal for an enthusiastic display.
It was a frustrating night for the Hatters, who led most of the second half through Danny Hilton’s goal but in the end the second game in a row was held to be fourth in the table.
Peterborough was lively at the start and came close to advancing in the sixth minute when header James Shea from Joe Ward’s corner hit the post by captain Frankie Kent.
The Luton goalkeeper was quickly called back into action when he had to push Harrison Burrows’ effort from 25 yards out.
The visitors settled down and were almost ahead of their first real chance, 18 minutes later, when posh goalkeeper David Colonel Fred Oniedinmar made a good tip from the cross to Elijah Adebayo’s header.
Jack Taylor became the latest home player to test Shia when he pushed his shot from behind 25 yards to a post near him.
The hatters were forced to change half an hour later when injured Cameron Jerome was replaced by Henry Lansbury’s fellow experienced head.
As Josh Knight’s cross progressed towards his path, Peterborough continued to face the threat, with Kwame Poku wide volley.
The haters need to improve after the break and Lancebury is forced to save the colonel from outside the box right after the restart.
Two minutes later, a great pass from Lansbury left Onidinma behind on the right and Hilton happily returned his low ball across the six-yard box to the opener.
Peterborough struggled to open in response, with Poku’s wild shots from long range aiming at their growing frustration.
They should have really equalized in the 78th minute when a dangerous ball from Ward avoided Clark-Harris, before substituting Ricky-Jade Jones from a close range.
But the home side finally equalized with three minutes left when Ward faced another good cross from Clark-Harris, whose header entered the bottom corner.
The hosts were not satisfied at one point and moved closer when Burrows’ cross from the left found Taylor, who couldn’t keep his header down.
Then, in the final minutes of the added five minutes, Clark-Harris came into the race to win the race when his low drive from 25 yards out of the post.
What managers say …
Of Luton Nathan Jones: “We were 1-0 up in the 85th minute, so we got to see the game, really, and we didn’t.
“We had a warning just before, with a delivery, and they had a chance to backstick and they scored, and to be fair they could have won.
“We probably should have lost the game, we weren’t anywhere near our best tonight, but the credit goes to Peterborough: they’re grafting, they need a win, they went for it, they were really positive. They have had bad results over the weekend [against Middlesbrough], So they came out fighting. Give credit to them, but we were not at the level we were at.
“We showed some quality tonight – once we won the first contact, the first time we dropped it, the first time we showed some kind of quality, we scored. I’m a little disappointed; One, we didn’t see the game and two, the level of performance.
Peterborough Grant McCann: “I thought, for 85 minutes of the game, we are the best team.
“There was a five minute spell in the second half when they got on top of us and scored on that spell and that’s the championship for you. The teams scored their spells and that’s what happened in those five minute spells, but I thought we assembled, we got better.
“We are still working, we have to deal with it [Elijah] Adebayo, and the long ball in it, and that’s the way they play and we’ve done so for most of the game.
“The last 20 minutes I thought we were great and there was only one team going to win. If I look at the last six matches, I think we were really competitive in five of them. I see the team fighting tonight. “
