Midlands 2 East (S): Luton 21 - 26 Old Laurentians

After a ‘match of two halves’ Luton now sit two points below Peterborough who took over as league leaders of a table where the top 6 are covered by only five points.

After a shaky start from Luton the away side opened the scoring with a try and conversion. And it looked like it was going to be an uphill struggle for the Newlands side as key player Rik Hobbs came off within nine minutes with a groin injury.

The home side however immediately came alive and after 18 minutes Martin O'Grady levelled the game. The winger powered his way to the line after good work by the forwards.

And Luton took the lead when Hobbs returned to the field. It was his break that gave Callum Strachan a clear run to the line.

As time ran out in the first half the visitors rallied and pushed Luton back. The pressure told and Campbell McMillan saw yellow. However to the delight of the home fans O’Grady intercepted a loose pass and sprinted the length of the pitch to score.

Fullback David Hamm then slotted the conversion kick which saw the Newlands side going in at the break with a 21-7 advantage.

Although Luton now had the slope in their favour and the wind at their backs it was Old Laurentians who came out strongest. A try in the corner brought them back into the game.

Then the turning point of the match. Luton’s Matt Yang received a red card for stamping on an opponent.

Old Laurentains used their extra man to their advantage as they blew away the home side's weakened defence to score a try and conversion, to bring them to within two pints of the hosts.

Luton looked to have held on for victory but with the last play of the game the away side broke down the wing to score in the leaving Luton to wonder where it all went wrong.

After suffering their second successive loss in a week, first team coach Paul Alston believed his team became complacent. He said: “We switched off. We thought we’d won the game.

"I said to the lads that we needed to score first, however they scored first and the rest is history."

Luton now look to return to winning ways when they travel to seventh place Olney on the 19 November.