A double strike from Ilya Maximov earned Russian Premier League side FC Volga a 2-1 comeback win over second-tier side and city rivals FC Nizhny Novgorod in the first leg of their promotion-relegation playoff Friday.
The aggregate winner over two legs wins a place in the elite division next season, while the loser is condemned to the second-tier Football National League.
Former CSKA Moscow forward Alexander Salugin gave the visitors a shock lead with a route-one goal on 22 minutes, heading Sergei Kvasov's cross past Volga goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov.
Ex-Zenit St. Petersburg striker Maximov swiveled in the box to turn a left-footed shot low into the opposite corner when a 60th-minute attack appeared to have petered out.
The 25-year-old forward made it 2-1 just three minutes later, collecting a ball from the left and shooting into the right corner of the goal and under a flailing arm of Nizhny Novgorod stopper Vasily Chernitsyn.
It leaves the tie nicely poised going into Tuesday's second leg.
Volga were one of two Premier League teams to fall into the relegation playoff zone, along with FC Rostov.
Both fight it out for a spot in the top division against second-tier sides who finished just outside its top-two automatic promotion berths - a system introduced for the first time this year.
Rostov beat Shinnik Yaroslav 3-0 in Friday's other playoff first leg.
