Renatinho scored an injury-time winner as Guangzhou R&F beat Henan Jianye a 3-2 to keep their hopes of appearing in next season's Asian Champions League alive.
R&F looked to have wrapped up the points when Xiao Zhi and Renatinho gave them a two-goal lead, but Ricardo Vaz Te and Christian Bassogog pulled Henan level with 12 minutes remaining.
But Renatinho struck again to secure all three points in the first minute of injury time as Dragan Stojkovic's side stayed within six points of third-placed Hebei CFFC.
"It was a very entertaining match with five goals and we reached our target -- to win," Stojkovic said. "Our players played well and we fought until the last second.
"We need to keep pushing our competitors in the rankings and put them under pressure. Every match matters.
"We controlled the game most of the time, and when you have the chance you have to kill the game. If we hadn't scored the final goal, we would have slid down the table.
"Overall we were good. This year has not been easy for us. We have been conceding a lot of goals in the last seconds, but now we have finally managed to win a game in the last seconds."
R&F stay in sixth place, just behind Tianjin Quanjian and Shandong Luneng, who drew 0-0 on Saturday but remain in contention for a place in the continental championship with three games left.
At the other end of the table, Tianjin Teda notched up a third win in a row with a 2-1 victory over Shanghai Shenhua, easing their relegation worries.
Mbaye Diagne scored late on to move Teda six points clear of 15th-placed Yanbian Funde, who occupy the second of two relegation spots.