Burley made just the one change, replacing the inconsistent Wright-Phillips with the fit-again Viafara who made such an impact coming on as sub against Leeds.
This left Rudi Skacel and to a lesser extend Drew Surman supporting Rasiak up front in a 4-3-3, with mixed success. The formation certainly delivered our usual hatful of chances, with the finishing just as wasteful.
In the end, our two goals were gifted to us by Luton, with Barnett handing us a penalty with a bizarre basketball style bounce of the ball and Kiely failing to keep out a Baird header despite getting his hands to it.
Despite playing three defensive midfielders in Wright, Pele and Viafara, Saints struggled to contain Luton in the second half after their goal and were guilty of conceding possession too easily, in contrast to the first half where Saints dominated, restricting Luton to a scrambled Feeney effort against the post.
On the Cross verdict
In the end it was a relief to hold onto the three points, as it would have been criminal to surrender the lead after such a dominant first half. As ever, we made it hard on ourselves by wasting too many chances and then were guilty of sitting back as Luton began to find their form.
Certainly Luton will be encouraged by a physical and direct second half where with a little more luck they might have scrambled an equaliser. Fortunately, Saints are made of sterner stuff these days and had the good sense to keep the ball in the corners to see out the game.
Although an angry Luton manager Mike Newell claimed it was Rudi Skacel rather than Leon Barnett that handled for the penalty, it looked a clear-cut decision. After all why would Rudi slap the ball away when through on goal? With the referee unsighted, the linesman gave it, much to Newell's frustration. Maybe he's wishing there'd been a female linesman?
Fortunately, he cheered up enough to comment on the dancing News of the World 'stunnas' quipping that the 'pre-match entertainment was good - am I allowed to say that?' Some people never learn!
After a stuttering October, we are now starting to build momentum again going into a massive home game against Birmingham on Wednesday in what should prove a genuine test of our promotion credentials.
With Preston and Cardiff failing to win, we now are level on points with Stoke in sixth and just seven off top. If Saints can maintain our recent consistency and add an experienced striker in January, then we could be in for an exciting season.
Man of the match: A hugely popular first goal for Chris Baird, almost as much of an occasion as Claus knocking one in given the lad is 24 now having come through our academy! Yet another dominant display from Saints' rock in defence who made a series of vital interceptions when Saints came under pressure.
Cameo of the day: Talk about an impact substitution - with his first touch Jones launched himself into a header and got not only the ball, but two stunned Luton defenders who were sent sprawling.
Lemon of the day: Pompey loan signing Dean Kiely came in for abuse all game and got his Luton career off to a nervy start, fumbling a couple of balls and failing to keep our Chris Baird's header. Recovered well to keep Luton in the game, but the damage was done and Chris Baird was the hero.