Club Brugge and Germinal Beerschot closed the gap on Jupiler League leaders Anderlecht with home wins.

A single goal from substitute Rostand Kouemaha 13 minutes from time was enough for second-placed Brugge to see off Charleroi, who had Alessandro Cordaro sent off after just 25 minutes.

Sherjill MacDonald gave Germinal a first-minute lead against basement club Roeselare and Faris Haroun's brace condemned the visitors to a 3-0 defeat.

Fourth-placed AA Gent also kept up their pursuit with a 3-1 win over Cercle Brugge. Milos Maric opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Roberto Rosales made it 2-0 by the midway point of the first half.

Oleg Iachtchouk pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute to make for a tense second half but Bernd Thijs grabbed the clinching goal four minutes from time.

In the day's other games, Eric Matoukou's own goal and Aspas Jonathan's penalty gave Excelsior Mouscron a 2-0 win over Genk and Westerlo beat Mechelen by the same scoreline with goals from Sacha Iakovenko and Steven De Petter.