Thomas Kaminski's red card was the first in England
Ten-man Luton held out for a point in a goalless draw at promoted Portsmouth.
The away side had goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski sent off in the first half after he picked up two yellow cards in three minutes, first for time-wasting and then for clattering Pompey forward Paddy Lane outside the penalty area.
Despite being a man light it was the Hatters who came closest to opening the scoring after the break when Elijah Adebayo shot wide when played in on goal.
The hosts enjoyed more of the possession as the game wore on but were unable to make it count as both teams continued their search for a first win of the season.
The point did at least get Luton, relegated from the Premier League last season, on the board after they were hammered 4-1 at home by Burnley on Monday.
There were chances for both sides in an open start to the match, as Carlton Morris and Adebayo both forced saves from Will Norris in the Pompey goal and Kaminski tipped a Conor Shaughnessy header over the bar.
However, the flow of the game was totally halted by Kaminski's red card.
The Belgian keeper was booked by referee Jon Busby for repeatedly taking too long over goal-kicks and then sent off after rashly sprinting off his line to deal with a long ball over the top and taking out Lane.
Luton boss Rob Edwards took off striker Morris to bring on back-up goalkeeper James Shea.
Other than a comfortable stop from a Callum Lang header, Shea, making just his third league appearance since April 2022, did not have a great deal to do as the Hatters put in a strong rearguard action to limit the home side's chances.
John Mousinho's men have now taken two points from their two Championship games after winning the League One title last season but, having lost 1-0 to Millwall in the EFL Cup in midweek, are now scoreless in successive games.
Luton travel to managerless Preston next Saturday, while Pompey face a long trip to Middlesbrough on the same day.
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho:
“We’re disappointed and we thought we could have won the game. Luton defended brilliantly. I thought we needed a bit more to unlock them.
“We caused some problems for Luton, one of which resulted in the red card for their keeper. But we struggle against sides that go down to 10 men.
“Luton sat very deep in the second half and let us have the ball but we needed to make better use of it.”
Luton boss Rob Edwards:
“After Monday it was important the supporters saw a team that was fighting for them.
“With 11 men I thought we were quick and dynamic and should have been one or two up, and even down to 10 men we showed a different side to ourselves.
“I understand there was anger from the supporters after the first game but we showed that we learned and took it on board today.”
