Substitute Zhu Jianrong's last-minute strike handed Qingdao Zhongneng a much-needed 2-1 victory over Chongqing Lifan.

In a bottom-of-the-table clash, the visitors opened the scoring after 10 minutes with Fan Dongqing's long-range effort. Zou Zheng drew level on the stroke of the hour mark before Zhu then scored the winner in the dying minutes.

The visitors invited Qingdao to have the lion's share of possession from the outset, although Costa Rican striker Johnny Woodly Lambert was always a danger to the hosts' defence on the counter attack.

Chongqing took the early lead, however, as Fan took advantage of a failed attempted clearance to clip a long-range effort home.

That goal sparked the hosts into life but they were struggling to find a breakthrough and it was not until 14 minutes into the second-half that they managed to level when the unmarked Zou latched onto Stjepan Jukic's free-kick at the far post to fire the ball into the empty net.

It looked as though both sides would take away a point but deep in stoppage time Zhang Long's pass to teammate Zhu was deflected into the net to ensure Qingdao took all three points.

The defeat means Chongqing remain bottom of the standings while Qingdao are one place above them but a point closer to safety.