The Montreal Impact have been waiting for their man Didier Drogba for weeks and Saturday, they finally got a taste of what he could do for them in the MLS playoff race.

The Ivory Coast star picked up a hat trick in his first Impact start, with the third goal the winner, as he led his side to a crucial 4-3 victory over the Chicago Fire in Mauro Biello’s first game as interim coach.

Drogba signed with the Impact in late July, but was not deemed fit enough to play until Aug. 22, and then, after a debut as a substitute, was sidelined due to a toe injury. In the interim, Montreal fell in the Canadian Championship Final to Vancouver and then to Toronto FC in the league, costing coach Frank Klopas his job hours after the latter defeat.

But in his first start, Drogba showed why he was worth waiting for, delivering a crucial three points for the home side.

“What can I say? What a performance from Didier,” Biello was quoted as saying on MLSsoccer.com. “He’s such a committed person. He’s won everywhere. He came here with a great spirit, with such a will to win. And we saw that tonight.”

There was a certain irony to it all – the Fire listed Drogba as one of their “discovery” players but was unable to get the veteran to sign with them, eventually trading his rights to the Impact.

Drogba got it started in the 27th minute, as he was able to take a cross from Nigel Reo-Coker, hold off Eric Gehrig in the area, turn and deliver a finish into the corner to open the scoring, and his MLS account.

The Fire would get on the board nine minutes later as Jeff Larentowicz scored from the spot following a Maxim Tissot foul on Harry Shipp in the area. Montreal went back on top courtesy of Wandrille Lefevre but the score was level again two minutes later as Gilberto found the back of the net for the Fire.

Kennedy Igboananike gave the Fire their first lead of the contest in the 59th minute but that set the stage for Drogba to completely alter the contest over the next five minutes.

In the 61st minute, off a quick restart, Drogba unleashed a powerful finish into the roof of the net to equalize. Four minutes later, he followed up his own rebound after a great reaction save from Fire keeper Sean Johnson to give the Impact a lead it would not relinquish.

Drogba nearly made it four in stoppage time, as he put on a nifty move to split two defenders near the corner flag, but his tough angle shot across the face of goal went just wide.

With the win, the Impact moved two points clear of Orlando City for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, with Montreal having an additional four games in hand.