New England starting 'keeper Matt Reis was given a straight red for his tackle on Marco Di Vaio, in alone after being declared offside on two occasions earlier. After Bobby Shuttleworth replaced Reis and midfielder Chad Barrett had his night terminated, Patrice Bernier stepped up to the spot and, using the hesitant approach to the ball that has yet to fail him in MLS, slowly rolled the ball inside the left post after Shuttleworth had committed the other way.

"The last five road games we’ve given up goals, so we wanted to come back and secure (the) back line," said Biello, who once played for the Impact. "Give credit to the players. They held their shape.

“We saw fresh legs tonight, good movement and, in the end, it was a big victory for us,” Biello said after the match. “I think we played well defensively. We were very compact and were able to counter-attack several times. We saw a little of everything."

“Piscu” spent less time in the game than Schallibaum had expected he would. Turfed in the 45th minute for a late, studs-up, tackle from behind on Cordoba, his absence forced Montreal to send in Hassoun Camara and pull Felipe from the midfield as it became a 10-man side for the balance of the match.

“We know that Marco and Felipe have been going through a bit of a rough spell. We were lucky that Marco made the difference tonight with his two goals. Overall, I think that we played very well,” said Schallibaum. “We applied immense pressure on the sides with Justin (Mapp) and Romero. We were very much at ease both offensively and defensively too. D.C. plays an intelligent game and is a tough team to play.”

Challenging to the very end, Montreal’s last attempt came on a set play in the third of four minutes of added time. Romero’s cross sailed into the six-metre box and was met by Matteo Ferrari. The Italian central defender headed it towards the inside of the near post, picking a spot that was defended by five-foot-eight, 146-pound Rolfe rather than Johnson, a six-foot-three, 217-pounder.

The Swiss defender, although not the only man to contribute to the loss, turned in a performance that will have fans and critics asking why local products Maxim Tissot and Karl Ouimette are not seeing more minutes.

“We’re going through a bit of a tough phase at the moment. There’s a lot of physical fatigue and a bit of mental fatigue as well. It’s a long season and you have to expect some periods like the one we’re going through but we have to stay the course and play through them,” said Camara.

"Generally a team has to really work hard to score goals against us… Three goals, I'm extremely disappointed about. We haven't conceded three all season and that hurts me horrendously. But that's the best team in the East."

“You get punished in this league for a mistake and we certainly did,” Brovsky declared. “It’s not one guy on the team, it’s the collective 11. We lost it ourselves. We beat ourselves. It’s something we can learn from and we’re not going to do it again.”