Luton boss Mike Newell claimed referee David Crica ruined the match as ten man Luton held on to claim a point against Peterborough at Kenilworth Road.
Newell said "He certainly livened the game up and from our point of view ruined it.
"I dont like to talk about referees all the time but the standard just isnt good enough. I thought some of the early decisions were harsh, especially Ian Hillier's booking.
"As a result we were up against it for 50 minutes and, at the end of the day, we are happy with a point." The first half proved to be a niggly affair punctuated by the referee's whistle as he blew for 19 fouls dishing out four bookings including Hillier's red card.
Peterborough started brightly and Curtis Woodhouse saw his free kick from the edge of the box kicked out by Luton's debut keeper Marlon Beresford.
After that it was the home side who created the majority of the chances.
Adrian Forbes seemed certain to score on five minutes, however, only a last gasp intervention by Gareth Jelleyman put him off his stride before Hatters hot shot Gary McSheffrey tried his luck from 25 yards only for Posh keeper Mark Tyler to comfortably pluck the ball out of the air.
The main threat for the visitors came down the right hand side from Calum Willock, whose pace and quick feet caused havoc for Luton. Hillier could only stop him by knocking him over and received his first booking on 23 minutes for doing so.
Despite Willock, Luton at this time were in full control. They underlined this on the stroke of half an hour when McSheffrey played a one-two with Lee Mansell on the edge of the box and, although he saw his initial shot block, he was quick enough on the rebound to give Luton a deserved lead.
He could have doubled Luton's lead from Tyler's poor goal kick, the striker's 30 yard strike was safely gathered.
Peterborough should have levelled a minute later when Leon McKenzie turned well in the box, however, having done the hard work he blazed the shot over.
Woodhouse then saw his shot clear the crossbar before Hillier received his marching orders on 39 minutes when he picked up his second yellow card for a blatant foul on Willock.
Despite the one man disadvantage Luton came out strongly after the interval and should have increased their lead, though McSheffrey inexplicably blazed over from Matthew Spring's cross.
However, after that, Peterborough piled on the pressure and an equaliser looked on the cards. McKenzie used his strength to get to the by-line, though having pulled the ball back, their was no one in the box.
The pressure, though, was mounting and 20 minutes into the half the visitors drew level when sub David Farrell got the better of Kevin Foley before clipping in a cross which McKenzie headed in. They nearly took the lead a minute later but Willock's curling shot was palmed away.
By now it was all Peterborough and, having got into promising positions, they should have done better but they lacked composure with the final ball.
It looked as if the goal would arrive at any minute, but it was Luton who came closest to getting the winner. A swift counter attack saw Ahmet Brkovic play a great ball to Matthew Spring who took the ball perfectly in his stride but hit the ball against the post.
Willock had his chance to win it late on but saw his effort smothered by Marlon Beresford.