Oguchi Uche’s lone strike from the spot powered TRAU FC to a 1-0 win over Churchill Brothers in the I-League here on Wednesday.
TRAU has now risen to eighth with 19 points from 16 matches while Churchill remained at fourth with 20 points from 14 games.
The victory also helped the team from Imphal complete a double over the Goans for the season as they had earlier came out 2-1 victorious at Fatorda.
It also marked the first victory under coach L. Nandakumar Singh after a winless streak of six consecutive matches since the departure of Dimitris Dimitriou.
After a goalless first-half, TRAU grew in confidence with each passing minute.
A rash tackle on Princewill Emeka Olariche in the Churchill box gave the home team a penalty. Uche, who took the spotkick, found the bottom left corner of the net to earn a much-needed lead in the 77th minute.
The result: TRAU FC 1 (Oguchi Uche 77-Pen) bt Churchill 0.