Australian striker Joel Griffiths scored the only goal of the game to keep Beijing Guoan top of the Chinese Super League as they edged arch-rivals Tianjin Teda at home 1-0.
Griffiths scored the winner only ten minutes in while Tianjin were reduced to ten men in stoppage time when midfielder Tan Wangsong was sent off for a reckless challenge on keeper Yang Zhi.
"I will give credit to Joel for the valuable winner he scored today," said Beijing coach Lee Jang-soo. "Overall, our performance was fairly good today."
Beijing now have 22 points and are on a four-game winning streak.
In other action
Defending champions Shandong Luneng are level on points with the capital side after they defeated Hangzhou Lucheng 1-0 away, but lie second due to goal difference. Li Jinyu scored for Shandong after 24 minutes.
Elsewhere, Henan Jianye remain four points back in third after they narrowly beat Changchun Yatai 1-0 thanks to a 82nd-minute strike from Neituo, while Guangzhou Guangyao are a point behind in fourth after they got the better of Shanghai Shenhua 2-1.
Changchun also have 17 points in fifth, as do sixth-placed Dalian Shide who were held to a 0-0 draw with Shaanxi Baorong.
In the day's other games Chongqing Lifan were held by Chengdu Blades 1-1 and Changsha Ginde beat Jiangsu Shuntian 2-1.
