It must be the most bizarre statistic of any League club that Notts County have played seven Tuesday night League matches this season and have failed to win any of them.

However, it probably won't worry the Magpies so much as the fact that Luton's clear-cut victory was the seventh time during the campaign that Notts have gone down in front of their own fans.

Those fans seemed to be giving a verdict when only 2,500 of them attended this latest setback.

They all went away unhappy and frustrated whereas 400 travelling Luton supporters stayed on to cheer their team still battling manfully against heavy odds to avoid relegation.

County set off at a cracking pace but Luton's back line held them at bay impressively in the opening quarter hour and the smartest save pulled off by either goalkeeper was by County's Kevin Pilkington who saved well from Tom Craddock.

Pilkington had no chance when Luton, somewhat against the run of play, stormed into a 25th minute lead.

Notts failed to deal adequately with a throw and when the ball reached Chris Martin he lashed it into the corner of the net.

Ten minutes later Notts should have been on terms with the simplest chance of the whole night.

Delroy Facey flicked the ball to the feet of Richard Butcher but, from six yards, the midfielder somehow managed to steer it outside Dean Brill's right-hand upright.

The hammer blow of a second Luton goal arrived one minute into first-half stoppage time.

Adam Tann made it an easy decision for referee Chris Sarginson when he pulled down Martin with a miss-timed tackle.

Luton could scarcely believe their eyes, however, when the referee pointed to the spot - it was Luton's first penalty of the season.

Craddock converted it with a blistering drive to Pilkington's left.

County went in search of a goal at the start of the second-half but again found Luton's defence resolute and chances became few and far between.

With a series of rapid breakaways Luton themselves offered the threat of a third goal but in the end had to be content with the two.