Lennie Lawrence made an unhappy return to Luton as he watched his Cardiff City side lose 2-0 at his former club.
The ex-Charlton, Middlesbrough and Bradford boss, dismissed at Kennilworth Road in the summer of 2000, saw Luton clinch a deserved victory with two late goals against his promotion-chasing team And, to rub salt in the wounds, Tony Thorpe, who scored a bagful of goals, for Luton under Lawrence, broke the deadlock with ten minutes to go.
Luton top scorer Steve Howard then added a second in the last minute to secure victory in front of the delighted home crowd.
Home manager Joe Kinnear played a three pronged strike force, with Dean Crowe joining Thorpe and Howard in attack.
Crowe fired wide on nine minutes and Neill Alexander then saved from Howard a minute later.
Australian defender Chris Coyne headed wide from a Paul Hughes free- kick on 31 minutes but Luton keeper Carl Emberson saved well from Peter Thorne at the other end.
Alexander produced an even better stop in first-half stoppage time to deny Howard.
The Cardiff keeper was at full stretch to make a fingertip save from the massive striker's header early after the interval.
Andy Legg cleared a Coyne header off the line on 54 minutes, and Alexander then beat out a stinging 25-yard drive from Crowe.
A crucial deflection off Hughes prevented Cardiff midfielder Chris Barker hitting the target on 63 minutes before Luton then dominated the closing stages.
Alexander saved from Ahmet Berkovic after Howard's downward header and the Croatian midfielder then rattled the underside of the crossbar.
Thorpe broke the deadlock when Spencer Prior failed to cut out Crowe's pass and the Luton striker fired into the bottom corner from 15 yards, despite Alexander getting a hand to the shot.
Top scorer Howard then rattled in his 12th goal of the season with an emphatic volley after Cardiff's defence failed to clear Berkovic's corner.