Stern John stunned his old club with a last minute leveller as Roy Keane's Sunderland once again showed its never-say-die spirit in spades at St Andrew's in a 2-2 draw with Birmingham City.
After getting its season off to a flyer with a last-gasp win over Tottenham on Saturday, Keane's men refused to accept defeat after sub Garry O'Connor gave Birmingham an 82nd minute lead.
After heading against the crossbar a minute later, John - who left St Andrew's for the north-east last season - pounced to bundle home after Ross Wallace's 90th minute free-kick.
It was a dramatic ending to a low-key game which the Blues looked like shading through a first-half own-goal from Paul McShane, until Michael Chopra's stunning 75th minute leveller.
Blues new boy O'Connor swept home a clinical left foot effort to seemingly end Keane's fine start as a Barclays Premier League boss before John pounced to level.
Keane had made four changes after the opening day win with Chopra given his first start, and the new-look visitors began full of confidence.
Steve Bruce's men responded through Olivier Kapo, who got behind Halford before hitting a low deep cross which was well held by Craig Gordon in the visitors' goal.
But the longer the first half went on the more chances came at a premium, with neither Blues goalkeeper Colin Doyle nor Gordon having much work to do.
McShane contributed to a brief spell of Sunderland pressure with an ambitious overhead kick in the box before playing an unfortunate part in the Blues' 28th-minute opener.
Larsson's free-kick was headed across goal by Stephen Kelly and the ball struck McShane on the chest, diverting it over the line past a helpless Gordon.
Briefly rattled, Sunderland almost presented the home side with another golden opportunity two minutes later when Nyron Nosworthy lost possession to Forssell on the edge of his own box.
Keane made a double substitution on the hour, with John replacing Connolly and Liam Miller on for captain Whitehead.
Then after Edwards saw a deflected effort sail into Doyle's arms, Keane went for broke - replacing right-back Halford with another striker, former Cork man Roy O'Donovan.
The tactic appeared to have paid off handsomely in the 75th minute when Chopra latched onto an Etuhu ball and fired a stunning left-foot shot past Doyle from 18 yards.
Birmingham responded seven minutes later through substitute O'Connor, who was fed a delightful ball by Forssell on the left of the Sunderland box and finished clinically after wrong-footing McShane.
In a dramatic finale, there was still time for John to head against the crossbar from point-blank range after great work down the right by Carlos Edwards - who went off with what appeared to be a hamstring problem immediately afterwards.
Sunderland was down to 10 men for the last seven minutes - but it continued to pressand Wallace was awarded his final minute set-piece.
His deflected free-kick was brilliantly parried by Doyle but fell to Nosworthy, who headed back across the face of goal for John to head in and break City hearts.
English Premiership League
Birmingham City 2 (McShane 28og, O'Connor 82)
Sunderland 2 (Chopra 75, John 90)