Latching on to a long ball from countryman Divine in the 65th minute, the black and white's Nigerian recruit slotted home the winner past Brothers' goalkeeper Mohammad Ali, who just seconds before had fisted away the ball from Divine's shot.

Interestingly, Emeka also scored the winner in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season.

It was a very important victory for Mohammedan as they now go level on points with arch-rivals and league leaders Abahani on 38 points from 18 matches while the Orange remained at mid-table with 23 points from 18 outings. Abahani, however, have a chance to go three points clear if they win today's match against Arambagh.

Mohammedan coach Shafiqul Islam Manik stated that they now have a good chance to grab the first-ever B. League title, although their Dhanmondi-based rivals still have a match in hand.

"We'll be taking the two remaining matches very seriously. Even if we win all the two matches, we will still have to wait for Abahani's results," said the former national player.

About the day's performance, he commented that he was satisfied with his players, adding, ""The boys played absolutely superb."

Manik's counterpart and new Bangladesh coach Syed Nayeemuddin mentioned a slippery ground but also admitted failure.

" We missed some scoring chances in the beginning of the match," he said.

The Oranges manager Amer Khan said, "The match against Mohammedan was a matter of prestige for us, as we failed to win any match against the big teams in the league. And once again, we failed to win."

Earlier, Zahid Hossain Emily's cross was cleared by Rony in the Brothers' defence in the tenth minute but the ever-alert Divine fired in the loose ball from 30 yards but the shot was parried away by Ali for a corner.

Brothers had a string of chances in the first-half but were thwarted. First it was Jalaluddin whose curved effort in the 21st minute off a ball sent into the penalty area from Brothers' Nigerian player

Elija Junior. Then it was Junior himself who headed directly into Mohammedan goalkeeper Himel's lap after heading in a right-flank cross from midfielder Liton in the 29th minute.

Himel foiled another attack, saving Junior's close range shot off a Mamun pass in the 41st minute.

Come the second-half, and Brothers continued to attack as Faisal Mahmud's volley went wide.

Mohammedan then almost opened their account but Brothers' custodian Ali rushed in to stop a through-ball from Emily which was intended for Emeka's well-timed run into the danger area.