“I think that the energy, effort and commitment that everyone showed from the top to the bottom was at a very high level and something to be very proud of but, in the end it’s a results-oriented business and for me, especially considering the way the season ended, it wasn’t good enough,” declared the first-year gaffer.

“We do not want to be close to the playoffs, we want to be in the playoffs. We want to reach our season-ticket subscription objective. We do not want to experience a dip in attendance like we had in our first game at Saputo Stadium. We do not want to leave points on the pitch by allowing so many late-game goals.”

The New England Revolution came to town looking to salvage a bit of pride and avoid being swept by a first-year team in their season series, but the Impact had something more tangible to play for: The top spot among Canadian pro teams and along with it the right to face FC Edmonton in the opening round of next year’s Amway Canadian Championship.

Bernier: “We’re a little disappointed because we had four games to play and we knew we had to win them all to have a chance at the playoffs. We didn’t have the same energy in the first half as we did in the second and you can’t play that way against a team that knows exactly what it has to do and then goes out and does it. We came up with too little too late and now we have three games left in the season.”

Local product, Patrice Bernier, had a red-letter day on the pitch, earning Player of the Game notice for his efforts, which included a brace and an assist for a scoring line that he probably hasn’t put up since his days in junior hockey.

“A lot of it depends on the stadium because we’re building a stadium in San Jose,” San Jose Eartquakes President Dave Kaval explained. “The stadium here (in Montreal) has been renovated recently so I wanted to sit down with Joey Saputo and with all the team here and discuss with them what they built. There are lessons here for us and our design as we move forward with our construction and so that’s the key reason.”

The Montreal Impact continued its drive toward the playoffs this evening with a decisive 3-1 victory over the league-leading San Jose Earthquakes in front of a sold-out house of 19,441.

Whether credit for the 1-0 win should go to midfielder Sanna Nyassi, or the 75-strong group of supporters who made Gillette Stadium sound like Saputo Stadium is a question of debate, but there is no doubt that the Impact stole one tonight as it won its second road game of the year.

Andrew Wenger, playing up top in place of Marco Di Vaio, presently in Italy facing questions in that country’s most recent game-fixing scandal, gave the Impact a one-goal lead moments before the interval.

“I think that we were able to control the game. We were organized, we made it hard on them, and we didn’t give much up. From the back all the way up I think a bunch of guys had good games and collectively they were organized, they kept things tight,” said head coach Jesse Marsch.