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BUENOS AIRES, Aug 26 (Reuters) - River Plate's misery continued as they lost 1-0 at San Martin in the Argentine championship on Sunday while champions Boca Juniors overcame nine-man Gimnasia-La Plata with a controversial late penalty.
San Martin's Jose Brusco scored the only goal with a 76th-minute freekick for the newly promoted side, who also missed a first-half penalty when Luis Tonelotto's kick was saved by Juan Ojeda.
The defeat left River Plate 18th in the 20-team Apertura championship, Daniel Passarella's team having taken only two points from their opening three games.
Boca found life more difficult than expected against bottom-of-the-table Gimnasia-La Plata, who last week sacked former Colombia coach Francisco Maturana.
With Julio Falcioni making his debut on the bench, Gimnasia kept the score goalless in the first half at the Bombonera.
Striker Rodrigo Palacio swept home Martin Palermo's pass as he broke the deadlock for Boca five minutes after the re-start, only for Federico Dominguez to equalise with a free kick two minutes later.
Gimnasia had Matias Escobar sent off for a second bookable offence in the 63rd minute followed by Renato Civelli for a foul on Pablo Ledesma in the 87th.
But Boca were handed a lifeline when Gimnasia goalkeeper Sebastian Cejas was harshly judged to have fouled Mauro Boselli and Ledesma converted the penalty.
Boca went up to seventh in the table, which is led by Independiente who beat Argentinos Juniors on Saturday.
