The Hatters produced a spirited second half display to come back from three goals down, but ultimately couldn't find an equaliser and lost 3-2 to Queens Park Rangers at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium this afternoon.
After going 3-0 down in the first half-an-hour due to goals from Eberechi Eze and Nakhi Wells, who scored a brace, the Hatters fought back with strikes from Harry Cornick and James Collins.
The latter scored his 49th goal for the club on his 100th appearance and despite controlling play in the second half, an equaliser narrowly avoided the Town's reach on a number of occasions.
The Town were swept aside in the opening exchanges by a Rangers team full of confidence.
Eze opened the scoring just three minutes into the game as he fired a 25-yard shot straight into the top corner.
Their lead was doubled just 17 minutes later when Toni Leistner’s lofted ball from centre-back went all the way over the top, into the path of Wells, who calmly found the bottom right corner with a left-footed strike.
Simon Sluga produced an outstanding save to deny Eze as he knocked the ball onto the bar but minutes later, QPR had their third just before the half-hour mark.
Eze played the ball through to Wells for his second, but even at 3-0 the game was far from over.
The Hatters were gifted a route back into the game in the 36th minute when goalkeeper Joe Lumley passed the ball straight to Harry Cornick but even with an empty net, the forward did very well to finish from 30 yards out.
Luton were in the ascendancy before half-time and good work from Kazenga LuaLua could have resulted in another goal back, but both Cornick and Collins couldn't latch on to his deliveries.
Just after the break, the Hatters got their second courtesy of Collins. Andrew Shinnie played a cross-field ball to Cornick, who knocked it back first time for the 28-year-old to score for the third league game in a row.
The end to end action continued as the Hatters withstood a flurry of QPR attacks, most notably when Jordan Hugill fired over from close range after good midfield play from Eze.
But it was Luton who were taking control and their search for an equaliser came agonisingly close in the 61st minute but on the stretch, Matty Pearson couldn’t get on the end of Shinnie’s free-kick.
The Hatters commanded second half proceedings but were fortunate when Hugill was guilty of firing over the bar from close range once again.
Substitute Elliot Lee almost made an instant impact from the bench as he played Collins through on goal but, centre-half Yoann Barbet produced a superb tackle to deny a shot on target with just seven minutes to go.
Sonny Bradley was pulled back by Grant Hall whilst racing through on goal in injury-time, but Moncur’s attempt at securing a last-gasp equaliser was denied by QPR’s wall, who stood firm at the free-kick and kept their three points intact.
TOWN: Sluga; Bolton (Galloway 58), Pearson, Bradley, Bree; Tunnicliffe, Shinnie, Brown, LuaLua (Moncur 66); Collins, Cornick (Lee 79). Subs not used: Mpanzu, Jones, Butterfield, Shea
Yellows: Shinnie
QPR: Lumley, Kane (Amos 69), Leistner, Hall, Barbet; Manning, Ball, Eze, Chair (Pugh 74); Wells (Mlakar 66), Hugill. Subs not used: Kelly, Cameron, Smith, Scowen
Yellows: Kane, Hall
Referee:Jeremy Simpson
Attendance:16,186 (2,943 Hatters)