Churchill Brothers edged past Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club by a solitary goal to move to third place in the National Football League on Monday.
After a lacklustre first half at Nehru stadium in Goa, Churchill scored the all-important goal in the 62nd minute through Raju D.
With the victory, Churchill, who have 22 points from 15 matches, are on par with East Bengal but placed third on account of better goal difference.
HASC defender Alesh Shamaki was named the man of the match.
Churchill could have won by a bigger margin had Nicholas Muyoti's header not hit the post and Edage Okolie's shot from the close been saved by the rival keeper, Gumpe Rime.
Both the teams lacked urgency in their attack as they showed a cautious approach which saw play confined to midfield in the first half.
Churchill, who held upper hand, had the best chance to score in the 36th minute but George Ekeh, who got the better of a defender inside the box, ended up shooting wide off the mark.
The Goa outfit went ahead after the change of ends in the 62nd minute. Vanlalrova, who did lot of running on the left, relayed the ball to Ekeh, who in turn laid a pass to Raju. The last-named controlled the ball and uncorked a left-footer that found the corner of the net beating Rime.
Few minutes later Raju had another opportunity to increase the lead but his powerful shot was blocked by the custodian.
HASC, who surprised Mahindra United with a I-O win in their last match, failed to combine as a team. The only time they came close to scoring was in mid-second half through Alesh Shamaki whose header was put out by keeper Arindam Bhattacharya who had a field day.
