Kevin Payne took over as Toronto FC’s general manager and president so close to the MLS SuperDraft and the start of the 2013 preseason, that he didn’t have much time to design a grand plan for the club.

“I felt all day that we were going to have a good result,” said head coach Marco Schallibaum. “I also felt it yesterday in training and during my pregame speech tonight. The guys were pumped.

Nelsen: “It’s a great bunch of guys. All the hard work they put in during the week should be rewarded with performances like that — which was a fantastic performance.”

But, if you’re lamenting lost points, you need to take a step back and look at the game as whole. If not for TFC keeper Joe Bendik, who put in a performance that’s worthy of Player of the Week votes, the Union would have won this match by three or four goals.

Darel Russell has only been a member of Toronto FC for a few weeks, but he joins an ever-growing list of Reds’ players whose late-game mistakes have cost the team points.

“It wasn’t the kind of second half we wanted to have,” admitted captain Davy Arnaud.” If we’re going to be honest with ourselves, we weren’t in the second half, it was our worst half of the year, I would say, but we still came out with three points and in MLS you have to grind out results sometimes. That’s just the way it is. At the end of the day we leave with another win.

"These are players who have been in these situations. Not to slag off young players, but you only know what it's like when you're in the positions and Danny has been in these positions for years," O'Dea said. "It's a bit of experience and mental toughness and we lacked a bit of that last year."

It’s a symbiotic deal: Toronto FC desperately needs attacking options, and midfielder John Bostock needs to get his career moving in a positive direction.

“Obviously the lateness doesn’t help,” Toronto head coach Ryan Nelsen conceded to The 11 when asked about the last minute additions. “We had to evaluate what we had at Toronto on the playing staff, what we could do with the cap. The cap’s a big issue with this club so we had to be creative. Creative in making this club competitive looking at the short-term and long-term future."

Welsh national teamer Robert Earnshaw has confirmed that he has signed with Toronto FC and will likely be available for the Reds' season opener Saturday in Vancouver.