Cardiff played out their 10th consecutive Coca-Cola Championship game without a win as neither they nor 10-man Luton could find a breakthrough at Kenilworth Road.

Sol Davis, captaining the home side in his first start since suffering a stroke two months ago, marshalled his defence well in the first half and both sides were restricted to long-range efforts as they struggled to come to terms with the heavy conditions.

But it was Luton who looked the more likely to score after the interval with three chances inside two minutes, before David Bell was dismissed for picking up a second yellow card.

Stephen McPhail sent in an early warning shot with a strike from 25 yards in the first minute when the Luton defence failed to close him down, but he failed to trouble Dean Kiely.

But in general it was a subdued start, with out-of-form Cardiff showing none of the verve which saw them outclass the Hatters 4-1 in the reverse fixture in September.

There were nearly 20 minutes gone before the first meaningful attempt, with Kiely needing two attempts to gather a strike from Michael Chopra.

Cardiff were having marginally the better of things and Riccardo Scimeca found himself in space, but he got his shot all wrong.

On the half-hour, Dean Morgan had a chance for the Hatters after good work from Warren Feeney but he sent his shot wide.

At the other end, Scimeca's curling effort had Kiely worried but the former Charlton keeper was relieved to see it go just wide of the post.

Just before the half-time whistle, Morgan fired wide for Luton, but neither side could claim to deserve the lead.

The second half began at a quicker tempo and both Willo Flood for Cardiff and Luton's Rowan Vine fired wide in the first five minutes, while Feeney again reminded the Welsh side of the danger as he flashed a shot past the post.

Richard Langley was carried off after receiving a blow to the head shortly after the hour mark, Steve Robinson taking his place.

The match sprang briefly to life as Luton failed to make the most of a hat-trick of chances.

First Neil Alexander produced a fine save to deny Leon Barnett's header after an inch-perfect cross from Ahmet Brkovic.

Then Feeney turned Morgan's corner goalwards, only for Alexander to turn it wide of the post.

Finally, Cardiff were grateful to Glenn Loovens when he cleared off the line when Alexander failed to deal with another Morgan corner.

But things took a turn for the worse for Town after 72 minutes when they were reduced to 10 men. David Bell saw red after picking up a second booking for an innocuous looking challenge on Flood.

Cardiff nearly took advantage when Chopra latched onto Alexander's clearance but fired just wide.

The Bluebirds finished the game the stronger, but neither side ever looked like breaking the stalemate.

Teams:

Luton Kiely, Davis, Barnett, Perrett, Edwards,Brkovic (Holmes 83), Bell, Langley (Robinson 63), Morgan,Vine (Boyd 81), Feeney.

Subs Not Used: Beresford, O'Leary.

Sent Off: Bell (72).

Booked: Bell, Davis, Barnett, Feeney.

Cardiff Alexander, Gilbert (Gunter 78), Loovens, Purse,Wright, Ledley (Cooper 87), Scimeca, McPhail, Flood (Blake 90),Thompson, Chopra.

Subs Not Used: Johnson, Campbell.

Booked: Thompson.

Att: 8,004

Ref: A Wiley (Staffordshire).