Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted it was “two points dropped” as his wasteful Hatters were pegged back by ten-man Preston North End.
It was the second successive away draw in the space of five days that had yielded the same scoreline despite Town going in front and finishing with their full complement of players.
At Deepdale, that was because Ben Whiteman received his marching orders five minutes into the second half for a reckless foul on Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu.
Carlton Morris’ 12th goal of the season eventually gave Town a deserved lead with 17 minutes to go. The top scorer had earlier hit the crossbar, the superb Jordan Clark saw an effort cleared off the line and Elijah Adebayo was twice frustratingly off-target from close range as the visitors dominated.
But the lead only lasted eight minutes as Tom Lockyer was somewhat harshly adjudged to have handled Troy Parrott’s cross from close range.
The Preston man made emphatically sure from the spot and North End could have snatched in the final stages through Tom Cannon, despite such a positive performance from Luton, albeit one that lacked a killer instinct.
“I was really pleased with big parts of the performance,” Town boss Edwards said, adding: “We have to look at performances but ultimately we want results and points on the board. I do feel like it was two points dropped tonight.
“We got that goal, they had a man sent off and we were looking completely dominant as I felt we were with 11 men. We have been punished now in the last two games away from home with penalties. I feel like we can get to the ball a bit quicker and close the spaces a little bit quicker like we said the other day and that is something we have to learn very quickly from.
“The (Preston) goal came a bit out of the blue and gave them a fresh impetus and something to cling onto and they really stepped up their game.
“We had another couple of really good chances right at the death, we kept pushing, we kept trying but it was unlucky we weren’t able to find that second goal which I know I’ve said a couple of times lately.
“You can’t do much more than create the chances we created, and it’s down to the boys to either hit the target or be ruthless and that is something we’re going to keep focusing on.”
However, there is little Luton can do to prepare for the penalty decision that let Preston back into the contest.
“It strikes his (Lockyer’s) hand, but it’s close. People have to make their own minds up on it. It’s been given now,” Edwards told the BBC.
“We still had enough time to try to get a second and we tried but we couldn’t get it over the line. We’ve hit the woodwork, and scrambles and all sorts of stuff but we couldn’t do it.
“In a way, I’m not surprised he gave it (the penalty) once they’ve gone down to ten men and the crowd really get behind it them and it gives them a little bit of a them-against-everyone-else mentality.
“There was a big appeal and I’m not surprised it was given, but, like I said, it did hit his arm.”
Despite the draw, Luton remain in fourth place with a four-point gap between them and seventh-placed Millwall, though the Lions now have a game in hand on the Hatters.
And next up Town host the runaway league leaders on Saturday, aiming to do what no team in any competition has done for the last 11 games, stretching back to December 27 – beat Burnley
