A CONTROVERSIAL last-minute penalty denied The Saddlers what would have been a richly-deserved point at League leaders, Luton Town.

On a freezing cold February night, the action started with a neat turn and shot from Matty Fryatt flying well wide in the third minute.

Five minutes later Saddlers' 'keeper, Joe Murphy had to be alert to clear long as Rowan Vine closed him down following a through-ball that split open the Walsall rear-guard.

Shortly afterwards, Luton target man Steve Howard beat Ian Roper to the ball inside the penalty area but his instinctive shot flashed just wide with Murphy struggling to get across his goal.

There was another scare in the 18th minute when The Saddlers failed to get the tackles in on the edge of the area allowing Ahmet Berkovic room to shoot but his low effort was just off target.

Despite Walsall working hard and competing well, it was the home side who were creating all of the early chances and Vine broke the offside trap on 23 minutes but with Murphy hesitating , it was left to Roper to cover and do just enough to hurry the on-loan Portsmouth man into an attempted lob that was easy for Murphy to gather.

The next goalmouth action saw Vine heavily involved again as he flashed a low ball right across the face of goal after beating Zigor Aranalde. The ball had so much pace on it that it evaded the desperate lunge of strike partner Howard right in front of goal.

There was an excellent save by Murphy on the half-hour mark as he denied Steve Robinson from close range as The Saddlers got men back in numbers to eventually clear their lines.

At the other end, Walsall were still trying to find their shooting boots with both Kris Taylor and Daryl Taylor firing well wide after picking up loose balls just outside the penalty area.

With seven minutes to go until the break a teasing corner from Simon Osborn found its way over to the far post where Neil Emblen was up from the back but he was just beaten to it.

The last chance of the half fell to Howard who missed a great opportunity as he powered a header well over following a corner. The miss did little to warm the home fans who, bearing in mind The Hatters' strong position at the top of the table, were very subdued.

The second period started in a positive fashion for Walsall who were proving very hard to break down. A forward ball by Darren Wrack was picked up by Kris Taylor on 56 minutes but he was taken too wide to trouble the 'keeper so instead his pull-back into the danger zone was just nicked off the head of namesake Daryl who was lurking at the far post.

The Saddlers continued to work hard and look full of running as the half went on with every player doing their job well, however, that said the final ball was still letting us down.

With the home side becoming more and more frustrated, Murphy wasn't given much to concern him for the majority of the second half, however in the closing stages The Saddlers were forced to soak up an increasing amount of pressure with Luton putting a lot of high balls into the box, largely due to the arrival of the giant Enoch Showumni.

Both Ian Roper and Neil Emblen were forming a solid foundation to the back-line but with 88 minutes on the clock disaster struck as the referee awarded what appeared to be a very harsh penalty kick for a foul on Howard. Skipper Kevin Nicholls stepped up to calmly stroke home and give Luton an undeserved victory.

Try as they might, Walsall had no time to respond as we were left pointless from an impressive away performance against a side that had gone 13 League games undefeated going into the encounter.