EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Eskimos won their season opener, but unfortunately for them running back Jesse Lumsden wasn't a very big part of it.

Ricky Ray passed for one touchdown and ran in another as the Eskimos slipped past the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19-17 Thursday night, giving Richie Hall a win in his coaching debut.

The win came at a cost for Edmonton, however, as Lumsden, a key off-season acquisition for the Eskimos, didn't even make a it a full quarter before suffering an injury. With just 33 seconds to play in the opening frame, Lumsden left after a hit from former Eskimo Siddeeq Shabazz.

The oft-injured 26-year-old was taken to hospital for X-rays on his left shoulder.

"My heart goes out to him," Hall said. "There's a lot of life in Jesse. We don't know the extent of his injury right now. I know he is disappointed. I saw his reaction at half-time, he was very frustrated when he came off the field. It's a tough time for him right now. He's very disappointed. He's doing the best under the circumstances."

Bombers coach Mike Kelly was also making his CFL debut, but his first game did not go as smoothly as Hall's. With Edmonton holding a narrow 19-16 lead, Winnipeg missed a late field goal attempt that would have tied the game.

Winnipeg kicker Alexis Serna actually hit his first attempt from 47 yards, but Edmonton had taken a time out and the play was blown dead. Serna's second attempt was wide to give Winnipeg a moot single and Edmonton a narrow 19-17 victory.

"I made the first one. So I just told myself to hit it like the first one," Serna said. "You just lose focus sometimes. You make some, you miss some."

Bombers quarterback Stefan LeFors admitted it was a disappointing debut for the team overall.

"To come that close at the end and to have a chance to send it to overtime and then not being able to, that's tough to swallow," he said. "In the first half I think we killed ourselves by putting too much pressure on our defence but they did a great job holding them down and keeping us in it. Too many stalled drives. That's not going to cut it."

Ray also felt his team could have played better.

"We didn't play up to our expectations offensively but you take the wins where you can get them," he said. "You are going to win ugly every now and then. It is better than losing ugly. We have to be happy coach Hall called the timeout right when he did and take this win and try to get better offensively."

The Eskimos looked strong in the early going, marching up the field on their opening drive until the Bombers stopped them short when Ray was picked off by Lenny Walls at the Winnipeg 27-yard line.

That was as close as either team came to putting points on the board in the scoreless first as a heavy downpour caused both offences to sputter.

The Bombers finally broke the scoreless deadlock with five minutes to play in the second, but certainly not in a flashy way as they surged ahead 2-0 on a safety conceded by Eskimos punter Noel Prefontaine.

Winnipeg returned the favour three minutes later, with Mike Renaud gave up two points to make for an exhilarating 2-2 score.

The Eskimos finally woke up the crowd with just 24 seconds left in the half as Ray hit both Kamau Peterson and Jamaica Rector with long passes before finding Andrew Nowacki in the end zone for a 19-yard TD strike. Edmonton covered 60 yards in 31 seconds on three plays to make it 9-2 Eskimos at the half.

The Bombers' special-teams unit came up big to tie the game with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. Joe Lobendahn thundered into Edmonton returner Tristan Jackson, and Shawn Gallant picked up the loose ball and lumbered 20 yards for the touchdown to make it 9-9.

Jackson redeemed himself on the ensuing kickoff with a 56-yard return to the Bombers 38, eventually leading to a one-yard QB keeper by Ray to put Edmonton back in front by seven, 16-9.

Edmonton was threatening again late in the third when Maurice Mann made a great catch at the Bombers' five, but he lost the ball on a hit by Shabazz that was recovered by linebacker Ike Charlton.

Like Jackson, Mann was soon able to atone for his earlier mistake, making an acrobatic catch on a 43-yard pass down to the Winnipeg 11, leading to a 19-yard field goal by Prefontaine and a 10-point advantage midway through the final quarter.

It didn't take the Blue Bombers long to respond as LeFors made a 54-yard passing play to Terrence Edwards to the Edmonton 16. Fred Reid took it in on the ground on the next play to make it a three-point game, but the Bombers couldn't complete the comeback.

The Eskimos head to Montreal to play the Alouettes next Thursday. The Blue Bombers return home to host Calgary next Friday.

Notes: Edmonton's Richie Hall and Winnipeg's Mike Kelly both coached their first regular season CFL game as a head coach. It was the first time in nine years that two rookie head coaches have made their CFL head coaching debuts against each other. The last time was in 2000 when John Huard's Argonauts beat Danny Barrett's Roughriders 36-28 in Regina Edmonton and Winnipeg were no strangers when it came to players and coaches switching cities in the off-season. Former Eskimos on the Bombers this year include Kelly, special teams coach Rick Campbell, LB Siddeeq Shabazz, QB Stefan LeFors, DE Fred Perry, and SB Brock Ralph. Heading to Edmonton from the Peg were DB Kelly Malveaux, RB Graeme Bell, DE Kai Ellis, S Jason Nugent, OL Kyle Kochand and CB Willie Amos Bombers starting QB Stefan LeFors, 28, got into just one game last season with Edmonton but had five starts in 2007 with Ray out with a separated shoulder. He was winless in all five.