Bordeaux strengthened their position in second place in Ligue 1 as they came from behind to beat nine-man Nancy 2-1 on Saturday.

Two second-half strikes from Fernando Cavenaghi, the last of which came from the penalty spot, overturned Moncef Zerka's first half opener to give Les Girondins a six-point cushion between them and their third-placed opponents.

To make matter worse for Nancy both Jonathan Brison and Frederic Biancalani were given their marching orders in the second half.

The hosts started the brighter, but found Nancy keeper Gennaro Bracigliano in stunning form.

He stopped Wendal from point-blank range after 13 minutes before keeping out David Bellion's volley seven minutes later.

But despite the home side's pressure the visitors drew first blood after Bordeaux failed to clear a corner just before the half-hour mark.

The ball back into the box found Youssouf Hadji, whose flick-on was in turn headed home by Zerka.

Bordeaux continued to apply pressure in the second half and Cavenaghi levelled the score eight minutes after the break with a header from a corner.

Nancy then fell apart, and a minute after the goal they went down to ten men when Brison picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Mathieu Chalme.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors hung on until the 83rd minute when Chris Malonga fouled Johan Micoud in the box, and Cavenaghi made no mistake with a cool finish from the spot.

Any hopes of a comeback disappeared as Biancalani became the second player to go when he too received his second yellow card for an awful challenge on Franck Jurietti.

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