The Hatters held on to secure a vital three points in their quest for a play-off place with a hard-fought win over Peterborough United.

Goals from Jake Richards and Jordan Clark and a penalty save from Josh Keeley had the Town in control only for Posh to pull one back to set-up a nervy finish.

But the Town held on to record their third win in four matches to move to within four points of the top six.

In an end-to-end beginning to the game against a Posh side who arrived one place below the Hatters in the table, Jack Wilshere’s side began on the front foot and Emilio Lawrence curled a shot over the bar in the sixth minute.

But as half-chances fell for both sides the Town took the lead in the 20th minute. Kal Naismith’s forward pass eluded Clark but fooled the Peterborough defence, allowing Richards to run through and finish coolly from close range for his fourth of the season.

Ahead, the confidence was flowing through the Hatters and five minutes later Richards almost doubled his tally when he was denied by a block in the six-yard box when Clark and Nahki Wells had combined well down the left.

However, the visitors had a huge opportunity to restore parity just after the half-hour when Keeley was adjudged to have brought down Harry Leonard despite the Posh striker getting a shot out that was cleared off the line by Hakeem Odoffin. Keeley, though, had the final say, diving to his left to keep out Leonard’s spot-kick.

Back came the Town and Wells was close to making it 2-0 moments later only to see his attempted lob caught by Posh goalkeeper Alex Bass.

After the restart the Hatters began on top, and their bright start was rewarded on 50 minutes when Clark doubled the lead. Lawrence was the creator, his left-wing cross perfect for Clark to poke home his 12th goal of the season from eight yards.

Clark and Wells almost combine two minutes later only for Posh to clear before Clark then tested the palms of Bass in the visitors’ goal and it should have three on the hour when another intricate move involving Liam Walsh, Wells and Clark ended with Davy van den Berg skying a first-time effort over the bar when well positioned in the box.

As the Town continued to press for a third, Wilshere made a double change, introducing Gideon Kodua and Devante Cole.

However, the visitors upped the ante as the game entered the final 15 minutes. Keeley reacted smartly in the box to deny Kyrell Lisbie before Jimmy-Jay Morgan halved the deficit when heading home Lisbie’s cross.

All of a sudden the momentum was with Posh and Wilshere reacted by sending on Kasey Palmer and George Saville for the closing stages.

Despite their dominance, Keeley was rarely tested by the visitors and the Town felt they should have had a penalty in injury time when Palmer had his shirt pulled in the box after slaloming in on goal.

That would be the final action of six added minutes as the Hatters held on.

With a host of teams above the Town dropping points, the victory pushed the Hatters to within four points of sixth spot.

Next up, it’s a trip to AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday.

We’ll see you then.

UTT.

Town: Keeley, Jones, Lawrence (sub Kodua 65), Odoffin, Lonwijk, Naismith, Walsh, Clark (sub Clark 83), Richards, van den Berg (sub Saville 83), Wells (sub Cole 65).

Subs not used: Shea, Morris, Johnson.

Attendance: 11,429, including 1,338 from Peterborough.