Churchill Brothers survived anxious moments in the second half to edge past Mahindra United 2-1 and move to eighth place in the National Football League match at the Nehru stadium in Margao, on Saturday.

Churchill started with a flourish and took the lead in the 10th minute through Yusuf Yakubu.

But the jeepmen fought back after the deficit and restored parity in the 21st minute through their Brazilian recruit Marcos M R da Silva.

Dominating for most of the match, Churchill scored the winner through man-of-the-match Marcos Pereira who powerfully headed in substitute Roque Barreto's free kick from the right.

Mahindras tried hard in the closing stage but could not find the equaliser as they failed to beat alert goalkeeper Marc Mascarenhas.

Churchill, who are fighting to avoid relegation, moved to eighth place with 20 points from 19 matches, putting pressure on Mohun Bagan who are two points behind them with one match less. Mahindras remain on fifth place with 29 points from 19 matches.