An injury-time winner from substitute Kevin Gameiro earned Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 victory at third-bottom Dijon on Sunday that preserved their place at the top of the Ligue 1 table.

PSG had Mohamed Sissoko sent off prior to half-time and saw Siaka Tiene’s opener cancelled out by Steven Paulle before Gameiro slotted home in the 91st minute after Jeremy Menez led a counter-attack from a Dijon corner.

Dijon upset PSG in the French League Cup in October and they had looked set to hurt them again, but Gameiro’s goal enabled Carlo Ancelotti’s side to remain a point clear of second-placed Montpellier, who beat Caen 3-0 in Sunday’s late game.

“It’s an important success because we won with 10 men and we scored in the last minute,” said Ancelotti.

“Mentally the team was up to the task and we deserved to win.”

The Italian also expressed disappointment at Sissoko’s dismissal.

“Momo made a hard tackle but I think that his foot was on the ball,” he said.

PSG enjoyed the best of the first half, with Dijon goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet tested by both Javier Pastore and Menez, who also flashed a volley narrowly over the crossbar from Pastore’s dinked pass.

Visiting goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu had to parry a volley from Benjamin Corgnet, however, and the momentum swung in the hosts’ favour in the 41st minute when Sissoko was harshly shown a straight red card for a robust challenge on Eric Bautheac.

PSG went ahead after just four minutes of the second half, with Guillaume Hoarau eluding Chaher Zarour near the byline on the left before crossing for Tiene to tap home his first goal for the club.

Dijon drew level in the 76th minute and PSG’s fragility at set-pieces was once again exposed.

A right-wing corner from on-loan Chelsea midfielder Gael Kakuta was flicked on at the near post and Paulle arrived unmarked to nod the ball into the net.

With PSG looking shaky in defence, Dijon made the mistake of over-committing men forward for an injury-time corner kick and Gameiro was the beneficiary, drilling the ball home from Menez’s pass to claim only his second league goal in 2012.

At Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier had a 3-0 against Caen.

Montpellier’s victory took them 10 points clear of third-placed Lille, who were beaten 2-1 at Lyon on Saturday in a game that enabled OL to close to within four points of a Champions League place.

Fourth-placed Saint-Etienne were also able to capitalise on Lille’s slip-up, coming from behind to win 2-1 at Valenciennes and moving to within a point of the defending champions.

Elsewhere on Sunday, fifth-placed Rennes were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Auxerre, who climbed off the foot of the table.