Birmingham City 0-0 Cardiff City

Federico Macheda joined Cardiff in May after being released by Manchester United

Gary Rowett's unbeaten start as Birmingham manager continued after a goalless draw against Cardiff.

Rowett has overseen three games since replacing Lee Clark, while Cardiff remain without an away league win.

Cardiff striker Federico Macheda and Birmingham substitute Wes Thomas both had the ball in the net but their strikes were ruled offside.

The home side finished with 10 men as Thomas saw red for an off-the-ball incident with Sean Morrison.

The result means Birmingham remain second-bottom in the table, while Cardiff stay 12th.

Cardiff should have been ahead at the break when Macheda did well to control Peter Whittingham's clever pass but his drilled shot was saved by Darren Randolph.

Macheda had the ball in the net early in the second half, the Italian benefiting from a loose ball following a block by Birmingham captain Paul Robinson, but he was clearly in an offside position.

Rowett introduced Thomas and youngster Demarai Gray from the bench and the change almost paid dividends when Gray's excellent centre was blasted in from close range by Thomas, only for the flag to go up again.

Birmingham striker Clayton Donaldson squandered a good opportunity when he was sent clear, before a heated final few few minutes saw Thomas dismissed by referee Kevin Friend for an incident which left Morrison needing treatment.

Birmingham manager Gary Rowett:

"I'm disappointed with the sending off. I haven't seen the incident again so I'll have to watch it before I make any judgement.

"Wes's reaction suggested he was a bit disappointed to have let one or two people down with what happened.

"There was no real need for him to raise his hand and it meant four or five minutes of hanging on rather than trying to get the winner."

Cardiff manager Russell Slade:

"I think we should have drawn first blood in the match.

"We had two one-on-ones in the first half and should have taken one. In the second half it was a bit end-to-end with two offside goals which were actually offside.

"It's a clean sheet away from home though and that's important. It shows definite progress."