Napoli striker Edinson Cavani was on the scoresheet again but he could not lift his side to victory as Catania came back to claim a Serie A point at Stadio Angelo Massimino.

The former Palermo striker grabbed his sixth goal in seven league games six minutes before the break but saw his effort cancelled out by Alejandro Gomez midway through the second half as Catania sealed a deserved share of the spoils.

The dropped points saw Napoli, who finished the game with ten men thanks to Paolo Cannavaro's late red card, slip a place to fourth in the table.

Marek Hamsik tried his luck early on for the Serie A high flyers but saw his long-distance strike go wide right. At the other end, Morgan De Sanctis made a couple of good stops after 12 minutes, first diving to keep out Giuseppe Mascara's 25-yard shot, then from the resulting corner blocking Matias Silvestre's close-range header.

Catania were on top as Gomez's long-range effort was easily saved by De Sanctis, then the goalkeeper produced a top save to keep out Silvestre's header.

So it was against the run of play when Cavani tapped the ball home after Ciro Capuano failed to clear Ezequiel Lavezzi's cross. Four minutes after the restart Lavezzi broke well but fired his shot over the bar while for the hosts Maxi Lopez pulled his shot wide of the left post.

De Sanctis pulled off another couple of impressive saves to deny Maxi Lopez and a close-range header from Nicolas Spolli but he was finally beaten after 69 minutes. Adrian Ricchiuti's cross was perfect for Gomez to unleash a fierce right-foot shot and draw his side level.

Cavani could have won it for his side when he wasted a good chance in injury time, before Cannavaro saw red for a professional foul on Ricchiuti three minutes into stoppage time.