Ogba Kalu Nnanna scored five minutes from the final whistle to hand Churchill Brothers a come-form-behind 2-1 victory over JCT in a 17th round match of the ONGC I-League football championship in Ludhiana on Thursday.
The victory took the Goa side to second place on the 12-team table. They have 33 points from 17 outings, the same as Mohun Bagan, but are placed a run above the Kolkata side because of a superior goal difference of plus-21 to Bagan's plus-8.
Sporting Clube, with 34 points from 16 matches, are perched atop with 34 points.
JCT, after their eighth defeat, are in tenth place with 17 points.
JCT took the lead in the 15th minute through Jagpreet Singh, whose free-kick from outside the box beat Churchill goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya, but in the face of sustained pressure from the Goa team failed to hold on to it.
Odafe Onyeka Okolie, the tournament's leading scorer with 20 goals, restored parity for Churchill before setting up Nnanna to score the match-winner five minutes form time.
Okolie, who scored six goals in the team's 9-1 win over Vasco in the previous round, received a pass from Nnanna, beat two defenders and dispatched a stiff shot which beat JCT keeper Karanjit Singh.
Nnanna then combined with Okolie to clinch the issue.