Luton were saved from another Championship defeat thanks to Southend striker Freddy Eastwood's amazing injury time miss.

Eastwood, who had earlier clipped the crossbar with a tremendous fierce drive, should have given his side all three points when he rounded Dean Kiely in the Luton goal only to see his shot cannon off the post with the goal at his mercy.

It may have been a slight injustice had the chance been converted, but Eastwood, scorer of 11 goals already this season, will be having nightmares about the miss.

In truth it was a game of very few chances, which was probably to be expected with both teams struggling to find form in the Championship.

Luton had their chances with Leon Barnett and Rowan Vine both going close, but the performance was summed up by the chorus of boos that echoed around Kenilworth Road at the final whistle.

For the second game in succession, Hatters boss Mike Newell kept faith with the same starting line-up that were narrowly defeat by Sunderland at the weekend.

That meant Dean Morgan was preferred to Warren Feeney and Adam Boyd in attack whilst David Bell continued his midfield partnership with Steve Robinson in the centre.

Southend, who were without an away win in the Championship, included former Hatter Efe Sodje, whilst danger man Eastwood started in attack.

The game saw a very open contest in the early stages with David Bell coming close within the opening two minutes as his surging run and shot was fired straight into the arms of Southend goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan.

Bell's early effort was the only chance either side created in the opening ten minutes as the game failed to spring into life.

It wasn't until the 14th minute that Luton carved open another chance when Lewis Emanuel's through ball released Vine, who cut inside Sodje, but failed to connect cleanly and his shot from the edge of the area rolled kindly into the hands of Flahavan.

Luton began to find their rhythm and on 18 minutes Carlos Edwards stung the hand of Flahavan as the Trinidad and Tobago international powered his way into the area to fire a fierce drive from an acute angle.

Edwards came close again four minutes later when the midfielder picked up a pass from Robinson out on the flank to cut inside and drag a left footed shot inches past Flahavan's post.

It took 25 minutes for Southend to register a shot on target as Luton failed to clear their lines enabling Kevin Maher to strike a first time effort which wasn't collected cleanly by Kiely. Thankfully for him, his defence was able to mop up the danger.

Maher was continuing to cause Luton problems and it was his strike from 20-yards that almost broke the deadlock on 32 minutes, but the midfielder narrowly missed the target.

Eastwood, who had been kept relatively quiet by Luton's defence, saw his first glimpse of goal on 38 minutes when Barnett's clearance fell into the path of the Southend striker, but his shot was parried by Kiely.

Luton began to get themselves back in the game and Vine carved open the best effort of the match when he struck a curling 20-yard effort, after a inch perfect pass from Morgan, narrowly wide of the target.

AT HALF TIME: LUTON 0 V 0 SOUTHEND

Luton should have been in front on 51 minutes when Vine failed to hit the target from eight yards out. The former Portsmouth striker received a through ball played in by Brkovic, after Bell had picked out the Croatian with a shot pass.

As Brkovic fed the ball through, Vine looked offside, but the flag stayed down as the striker could only brush the side netting with Flahavan covering his near post.

It was the best chance of the game so far, but Southend mustered an even better opening just six minutes later. With Eastwood collecting a short pass from Mark Gower, the Southend striker cut inside to strike a ferocious 25-yard shot that had Kiely well beaten, but clipped the top of the crossbar.

Neither side were creating many openings in a game which was soon losing any momentum it had. However, Alan McCormack should have done better on 70 minutes when the Southend midfielder found space on the edge of the area, only to hit a first time effort well wide of Kiely's left hand post.

As wayward passes were being placed, so were the frustrations from Luton supporters beginning to show as Newell made an interesting chance with ten minutes remaining. Vine was replaced by Coyne, in a switch that saw Barnett move into attack.

And the central defender almost won it for the Hatters in the closing stages when he got onto the end of Kevin Foley's right wing cross, but Flahavan managed to acrobatically tip the ball over the crossbar.

However further drama was to follow when Eastwood should have won it for the visitors after the striker kept on side to pick up Maher's perfectly weighted pass. After rounding Kiely, the striker had an empty net to slide the ball into, but could only find the bottom of the post as Luton breathed a huge sigh of relief.

AT FULL TIME: LUTON 0 V 0 SOUTHEND

Luton: Kiely, Foley, Edwards, Robinson, Vine (Coyne 80), Morgan (Feeney 65), Emanuel, Brkovic, Barnett, Heikkinen, Bell

Subs not used: Beresford, Langley, Boyd

Bookings:

Southend: Flahavan, Hunt, Prior, Gower, Maher, Eastwood, Bradbury (Harrold 80), Sodje, Campbell-Ryce (Hooper 80), Hammell, McCormack,

Subs not used: Francis, Clarke, Welch

Bookings:

Referee: Mr N S Miller

Attendance: 7,468