Tunisian champions Espérance defeated Stade Tunisien 2-1 at the Stade Olympique de Radès in Radès on Saturday to maintain its 10-point lead atop the Ligue Professionnelle.
First half goals from Abderrahmane Meziane Bentahar and Youssef Mosrati gave Espérance a two-goal lead going into the break.
Defender Haythem Ayouni pulled one back for Stade Tunisien 11 minutes after the restart with a powerful swerving shot from outside the area but the fight back was dealt a blow shortly thereafter as midfielder Rafik Mednini was dismissed.
With the man advantage, Espérance held on to claim victory, its first in four matches, ending a run of three consecutive draws. Espérance also extended its unbeaten league run to 21 matches
Espérance (53 points) is followed by CS Sfaxien (43 points), who thumped 10-man Ben Guerdane 4-0. Zakaria Benchaa scored twice and Jassem Hamdouni and Walid Karoui added two late goals for a convincing win.
In other games, Hamza Agrebi scored the only goal as Club Africain edged bottom-of-the-table Bizertin 1-0 to climb up to fourth above Étoile du Sahel, who dropped to fifth after losing 2-0 to Slimane.
Elsewhere, second-from-bottom Hammam-Lif and Metlaoui played out a 1-1 draw and third-placed Monastir played out a goalless draw against JS Kairouan.
