Churchill Brothers registered a 1-0 win over East Bengal that took them to the top of the I-League points table in Margao on Saturday. Willis Plaza headed home the 90th-minute winner.

Churchill now have three wins from four games while the city outfit side dropped to third with eight points from five. The game looked like meandering towards a draw but Plaza struck his fourth of the season after coming close on at least three occasions earlier in the game.

Churchill’s Portuguese coach Fernando Tavares rang in wholesale changes as did his Spanish counterpart Alejandro Menendez Garcia, who made four changes, playing the likes of Jamie Santos Colado, Abhijit Sarkar, Didika Ralte and Mehtab Singh in place of Asheer, Pintu Mahata, Ronaldo Augusto and Samad Ali Mallick.

East Bengal were playing after a long three-week break but Churchill’s previous outing was a heartbreaking last-minute loss to Indian Arrows.

The visitors earned five corners compared to Churchill’s one in the first half-hour.

The referee also had a busy half, having to flash his card as many as three times. It ended with a Plaza flash strike but the scoreline remained goalless.