Churchill Brothers' march towards winning the title got a boost as they beat JCT by a solitary goal in an ONGC I-League match, to move to second place, at the Nehru Stadium in Margao.
Churchill scored in the 10th minute through Mboyo Iyomi and maintained the lead till the end.
JCT, who relied mostly on counter attacks, had scoring chances mostly in the second half but could not beat rival goalkeeper Vinay Singh who brought off four fine saves.
The win took Churchill to second place with 26 points from 13 matches, one point behind leader Dempo who have 27 points from 12 matches while JCT, with 25 points from 13 games, are now third.
Churchill defender Robert Lalthlamvana was declared man-of-the-match.
Churchill, who are two points behind JCT and four points behind leader Dempo before this match, started offensively and took an early lead in the 10th minute after missing two close chances.
Odafe Okolie, who twice came close to scoring, did the spadework before feeding Mboyo Iyomi on the top of the box and the tall gangling striker essayed a shot that found the far corner of the net.
The early goal put pressure on JCT who were on the receiving end for most part of the first half though they twice came close to finding the equaliser.