A James Collins hat-trick gave Luton Town all three points at Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters striker struck twice in ten minutes either side of the first half’s midway point and then added a third shortly after the hour mark to give Nathan Jones’ side the win.
The Lilywhites were unchanged from their midweek win over Middlesbrough and they had the best of the chances in the opening period of the game.
The first of those came on 11 minutes as they worked the ball well and Darnell Fisher won a free kick on the right, that Ryan Ledson swung in and former Luton loanee Jayden Stockley got up and headed down, into the ground, but up and over the bar.
Three minutes later Tom Barkhuizen did well down the right, before checking back in onto his left foot, driving a shot goalwards, but it was straight at James Shea in the home side’s goal.
The last of those chances came on 18 minutes as another Ledson set piece, this time from a corner on the right, found skipper Alan Browne making good movement to be able to connect with a right-foot half-volley, but he too fired into the ground and the ball bounced up and over Shea’s bar.
The hosts had the lead though on 20 minutes as a long ball over the top was chested down by Luton frontman Collins and he fired low into the bottom right-hand corner, Declan Rudd having no chance.
And he made it two just before the half hour mark, as a left-wing corner was recycled on the right and delivered back into a crowded six-yard box by Glen Rea and Collins was there to head home from a couple of yards out.
At the interval, manager Alex Neil tried to change the momentum of the game, making a double change – Daniel Johnson and Jordan Storey on for Ledson and Paul Huntington and he threw on his other three changes before hour mark, Emil Riis, Sean Maguire and Tom Bayliss on for Stockley, Barkhuizen and Brad Potts.
But it was the home side who got the decisive third goal of the game on 66 minutes, when Collins completed his hat-trick, firing into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal from 12 yards out.
Luton Town line-up: Shea, D Potts, Bradley (c), Pearson, Cornick (Clark, 75), Moncur (Norrington-Davies, 74), Lockyer (Berry, 80), Rea, Mpanzu (Tunnicliffe, 80), Collins (Nombe, 83), Dewsbury-Hall. Subs not used: Isted, Cranie, Isted, Norrington-Davies, LuaLua, Morrell.
PNE line-up: Rudd, Fisher, Hughes, Ledson (Johnson, 46), Huntington (Storey, 46), Davies, Barkhuizen (Maguire, 57), Browne (c), Stockley (Riis, 57), Potts (Bayliss, 60), Sinclair. Subs not used: Ripley, Earl, Bayliss, Gallagher, Rafferty.
Referee: Mr J Simpson
Attendance: 2,000