Luton Town 2 Forest Green Rovers 1: There was yet more 90th-minute heartache for Forest Green at Kenilworth Road, as Tom Craddock pounced to spare the blushes of the misfiring hosts.

Trailing to Craddock's first-half penalty until the 80th minute, Rovers looked to have salvaged an unlikely point when Conal Platt netted from the spot himself. But with nearly 6,000 home supporters baying for blood, Craddock rammed home the scrappiest of winners to deepen relegation worries at the New Lawn.

Veteran striker Kevin Gallen got the better of Craig Armstrong in the ninth minute, turning inside for a shot which flashed across the face of goal.

Luton were not shy in going direct to the ex-QPR man, and his knock-down fell perfectly for Craddock to curl inches wide of the far post from 20 yards.

But Rovers had attacking intentions of their own, Paul Stonehouse testing home keeper Mark Tyler's handling with a driven near-post effort.

Fine interplay between Conal Platt and Isaiah Rankin then created a chance for David Brown, but he scuffed his shot from the edge of the area and Tyler saved comfortably.

Confidence was visibly growing among the men in green, but that all changed in the 37th minute, when Craddock jinked past Jared Hodgkiss and was tugged back by the Rovers full-back. There were plenty of complaints – though tellingly not from Hodgkiss himself – before Craddock calmly sent Danny Ireland the wrong way from the spot.

It was rough justice on the visitors, yet they remained positive and twice came close to levelling before the break.

First Brown saw a sweet left-footed strike blocked, then Rankin came within millimetres of connecting with Danny Powell's cross with only Tyler to beat.

Luton were almost gifted a second in the 57th minute, when Armsrong and Oli Thorne got their wires crossed, allowing Matthew Barnes-Homer a free run on Ireland, but the big Aussie keeper stood his ground and saved brilliantly.

The hosts looked the more likely to add to the night's goal tally until Jonathan Smith stepped over a ball across the box and prostrate defender Janos Kovacs handled it.

Platt would normally be not be top of Forest Green boss Dave Hockaday's list of penalty takers, but he was assuredness personified in slotting past Tyler. Sadly the same could not be said about the defending for Luton's winner, as Rovers failed to clear their lines.

Craddock saw a loose ball cannon off his knee, forcing a point-blank save from Ireland, and the rebound fell for him to bundle into the net.