A late goal by Peruvian star Jefferson Farfan fired Lokomotiv Moscow to a 1-0 win over 10-man Rubin Kazan on Saturday to preserve their lead in the Russian league.

The result left Lokomotiv six points clear of Roberto Mancini's Zenit St Petersburg, who beat Ural Yekaterinburg 2-1, while CSKA sit third, one point further back.

Lokomotiv looked unimpressive from the start, lacking a cutting edge while Rubin, trying to end a five-game winless streak, failed to convert their chances leaving the scoresheet clean at halftime.

Rubin full back Cesar Navas has virtually dashed his team's hopes to win as the Spaniard was sent off for a professional foul on Lokomotiv forward Eder with 10 minutes to go.

Farfan made Rubin pay seven minutes later when he headed the ball home off a left-wing cross by Mikhail Lysov, who had come on at half time.

"In general, I'm pleased," said Lokomotiv head coach Yury Semin. "It was a hard match. Our hardest game this season. Rubin play really impressive in defence."

Elsewhere, Zenit bounced back from Monday's 3-1 defeat at Spartak Moscow as they battled back from a goal down to claim a narrow win over Ural Yekaterinburg, their second victory in the last eight league games.

Zenit were trailing 1-0 after their Argentinian back Emanuel Mammana sent the ball into his own net in the sixth minute as he tried to clear a free kick by Nikolai Dimitrov.

The hosts' equaliser was almost a copy of the opener as Ural striker Igor Portnyagin's attempt to clear a free kick by Leandro Paredes ended with an own goal just after the half-hour mark.

After the break Zenit pinned the visitors back and in the 76th minute Russian international forward Alexander Kokorin netted the winner, his 10th goal of the season, to regain the lead in the league's scorers' chart.

"We have serious problems converting our chances into goals," Mancini said. "Our attack suffers from low efficiency."