After thunder, lightning and rain delayed the Jamshedpur FC's opening game against Odisha FC for nearly an hour, it was Odisha FC's Diego Mauricio who stole Jamshedpur's thunder to stun last season's Shield winners 3-2 win at JRD Tata Complex in Jamshedpur on Tuesday.
Jamshedpur's Daniel Chima Chukwu gave the home fans a dream start when he scored within the third minute of the match.
The Jamshedpur forward line broke open Odisha's defence with some quick passing and it was Chima who started the move after getting the ball near the box. He then played it to Ricky Lallawmawma, who's cross was poorly cleared by an Odisha defender and Chima was there in a flash to slot it home.
Boris Singh then doubled it in the 10th minute as the 'The Furnace' almost began to shake. At that moment it almost seemed as if Jamshedpur would run away with the match to give the fans just what they have been waiting to witness for two long years.
However, Odisha FC had no plans to give up that easily and their fightback began when Mauricio reduced the lead in the 17th minute with a brilliant goal from outside the box. He curled it above the defenders and into the net with his right foot as Jamshedpur goalkeeper TP Rehenesh just watched the ball in awe.
As the action went on, both teams had fair share of chances to find the net, but it remained 2-1 at the end of the first half. After the water break it was Odisha who upped the ante and started to press hard from the very word go but JFC did well to hold on. Odisha's dominance got too much for the home side at times and that saw Peter Hartley and Ritwik Das handed yellow cards.
However, despite all the hard work by the Jamshedpur defenders Odisha finally found the equalizer when Isaac Chhakchhuak scored in the 88th minute after Isak Vanlalruatfela played him from the right.
With JFC players still trying to gather what just had happened and the fans trying to find their voice, Mauricio gave them the hammer blow.
At the stroke of 90 minutes, Vanlalruatfela played the ball forward from the right flank. It hit a JFC defender and rolled out into the open and Mauricio darted forward unchecked and put it into the net to silence The Furnace.
