Cagliari scored twice in the last five minutes to deny Sampdoria the chance to go level with second-placed Juventus.

Marius Stankevicius' dismissal three minutes before the break turned the game in the hosts' favour, although they had to wait until the 85th minute to capitalise on their man advantage as Daniele Conti broke the deadlock.

And Alessandro Matri made the points safe a minute from time to seal the home side's sixth win of the campaign.

The victory was the fourth in a row for rapidly-improving Cagliari and lifted them to within two points of their opponents, who have now gone three games without a win.

It was also the hosts' third straight clean sheet, although they might have found themselves behind after just four minutes.

Angelo Palombo won the ball on the edge of the Cagliari area and passed to Antonio Cassano. The former Roma man fed the ball to Daniele Mannini, but he was quickly closed down by goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.

Sampdoria had a decent penalty shout turned down in the 22nd minute when Cassano appeared to be pulled to the ground by Jeda before he could shoot.

Instead it was the hosts who almost went ahead at the other end as Davide Biondini's shot from inside the area on the left came back off a post and Daniele Dessena wasted a golden chance to score from the follow-up.

Cagliari had another sight of goal, Nene heading off target after finding space in the area to meet Andrea Cossu's corner, before their opponents were reduced to 10 men.

Stankevicius, the last defender, brought down Jeda from behind as the striker was racing towards goal and was rightly shown a red card.

Mannini tested Marchetti with a fierce, swerving shot from range nine minutes after the break as Samp sought to make light of their numerical disadvantage, but they were soon on the back foot.

Cossu fired narrowly off target after receiving a pass from Nene, who looked to have controlled the ball with his hand, before Nene beat Reto Ziegler to Alessandro Agostini's cross only to fail to connect properly with his header.

Former Tottenham played Ziegler then chanced his arm from way out after Nene had cleared Mannini's corner, but Marchetti made a comfortable save.

With the clock ticking down, it looked like the 10 men might hang on for a hard-earned point, but with five minutes remaining their defences were finally breached.

Agostini's mis-placed shot turned into the perfect cross for Conti, who got to the ball ahead of Samp keeper Luca Castellazzi and headed home.

There looked no way back for the visitors and their fate was sealed when Matri added a second four minutes later.

The substitute, who had replaced Jeda in the 65th minute, headed in a corner from point-black range, giving Castellazzi no chance.