“It’s just a clip,” Miller said. “I was getting ready to pull the trigger and put the ball in the back of the net, and he just clipped my heels or my calf. It’s one of them – it’s harsh on him, but by the letter of the law, it’s got to be a sending off.”

Well, this version of TFC, now winless in 10, has just seven points through 12 games. Pro-rated over a 34-game season... it’s ugly. It would put TFC on a pace for just 20 points, three LESS than last season.

The Whitecaps may have signed a slew of attacking players over the last week, but Darren Mattocks re-established himself as the big man on campus after the team’s first preseason game of 2013.

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.

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.

“I knew there was no pressure on Justin so I busted my ass to get there and I was at the right spot at the right time,” Nyassi said.

It hasn't taken Paul Mariner long to master the initiation of any Toronto FC head coach: watching his team give away points thank to stoppage-time allowances.

And, while the Whitecaps came back in stoppage time to draw Sporting Kansas City 3-3 on Saturday, they surrendered a 93rd-minute last-gasp goal to New England’s Ilija Stolica and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Revolution in front of 19,396 fans. But the talking point won’t be the Stolica equalizer. It will be the bizarre sequence that followed Eric Hassli’s penalty-kick goal in the 56th.