Toronto’s playoff campaign began Monday in New York, er, New Jersey – and the Reds did not show indications that they would become just another historical footnote.

Coaching is never a stable job, but outside of Toronto FC, it’s hard to think of a club where the gaffer is on a more precarious perch than in Montreal.

"While we have the same long-term objectives for this organization we realized over the past few weeks that we do not share the same philosophy on how to get there.”

“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.

The official “wait till next year” mantra can now be uttered throughout the Montreal Impact camp.

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.”

Renteria was left wide open in the penalty area to direct Higuain's cross over Impact keeper Troy Perkins in the 92nd minute. And Higuain was given acres of space down the left side in which to engineer a cross, as veteran Alessandro Nesta inexplicably decided to lay off rather than take away the Argentine's space on the wing. It

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.