Toronto FC collected a big three points on Saturday night with a 2-1 win over Austin FC at BMO Field.

Jonathan Osorio gave Toronto the lead after seven minutes, latching onto a loose ball in the box and thumping his shot into the Austin net. Deandre Kerr, who helped setup the first, scored the second himself in the 30th minute, capping off a sweeping move that saw Lorenzo Insigne thread a ball to Osorio, who spotted Richie Laryea in space on the left. He in turn picked out the run of Kerr for a tidy low finish.

Owen Wolff would pull one back for Austin in the 75th minute, but TFC’s defenses, with an assist from goalkeeper Sean Johnson, saw out the result.

“It's a big win,” said John Herdman post-match. “Big for the fans and for the players.”

“After D.C. we were hurting,” he continued. “To see that fight tonight was important. We knew that they were going to bring an intensity and energy, but I thought we had good control, got the two goals, and, always, with the 2-0 score line, you're in that limbo land, how much you go for it, how much you protect.”

“All that matters at the end is three points.” levelled Herdman. “Proud of the lads. Great to have the skipper back. Jonathan makes a massive difference in this team, you can see his desire and fight, but all the lads tonight, they dug in, they really dug in and showed that fight that it's going to take to make it through to the playoffs.”

“You're going to have to fight,” he added. “It won’t be perfect, as people keep telling us, you’re going to have to grind the results out all the way through.”

Alonso Coello made his return to the first team after a long injury layoff.

“It was huge,” said the midfielder of the result. “It was a game that we had to win. Seeing the schedule following this game, this was a must-win game at home. We came out very strong, very aggressive, trying to play our game, being confident on the ball.”

“Personally it felt great being able to be out there,” Coello continued. “It's hard when you're on the sideline to watch the games and not be able to participate and help the team. It's been a long three months and it felt very good to be able to share that with the team again.”

Herdman was pleased with what he saw from Coello.

“He's been hungry and I enjoyed that,” he smiled. “I told you this week, it was about watching lads fighting and pushing, and he just showed a real hunger and desire. Him, Kosi Thompson, Matty [Longstaff], they have all been fighting, [Brandon] Servania, for those spots. Deybi [Flores] was away on international duty. They really have competed.”

“It's been really fruitful, both him and Longstaff were physical, they were in the fight, big tackles,” Herdman noted. “And you see Coello’s quality with his passing. He's a very good progressor for us.”

Austin, themselves pushing for the playoffs, came out strong from the opening whistle, but Toronto saw out that early danger and took the lead through the captain.

Back from international duty with Canada, Osorio scored his 65th goal for the club across all competitions, and was a driving force throughout the match, both with his play and his encouragement. He bookended his night by taking charge of the on-field huddle following the final whistle.

“He's so passionate about the journey, the club. He's really grown into that captain’s armband,” said Herdman. “He challenges, he pushes people's levels, he pushes the coaches’ levels, he pushes the players' levels, and I've seen him grow.”

“He's growing into more of that Roy Keane-type leader,” he continued, referencing the legendary Manchester United captain. “Where he's willing to speak his mind to get the standards that are required. At the same time, you have to walk the talk and he does. He puts a shift in for his team.”

“He was excellent tonight. He covered every blade of grass. He brought his quality when he needed to, as well,” observed the coach. “He's starting to grow into that real steely-eyed leader and I'm excited for him because we need that. This club has needed that type of leader to come through and emerge and be ready to drag the team when it needs. And he's that guy.”

Osorio was then instrumental in the development of the play that led to the second, where Kerr, fit again after a nagging injury,

Kerr’s goal was his third of the season in league play and his second in as many games having scored against D.C. United at the end of August as well.

“Hungry,” was how Herdman described the 21-year-old. “That's what we want.”

“He's back from his injury, that awful foot injury that just kept plaguing him. We gave him the time he needed and he's come back hungry, really hungry and fighting for his club. That's what we've needed from him,” he continued. “He's a quiet lad. He's quite an introverted fellow around the group, but you see tonight, he showed for a young man. If he keeps pushing, he could be the difference.”

Toronto largely kept Austin at bay through the first hour of the match, but there were warning signs. Sean Johnson came up big in first half stoppage-time to deny Osman Bukari when he broke in down the right channel.

“They came out very aggressive,” noted Coello. “For an away game, their game plan was pretty aggressive, in their press and even on the ball, they were very direct trying to create chances from long balls.”

“First 30, 35, 40 minutes, we did a very good job in managing that,” he continued. “We still have that improvement gap of when you are dominating the game on the ball that way, we cannot allow ourselves to concede certain chances that we are giving up in transition or through them just playing a long ball and they catch us sleeping.”

Johnson would be called on several times in the second half to maintain Toronto’s advantage.

“He was big. He came up really big,” said Herdman of his keeper. “I see this in every team, the keepers, in this period of time, are going to come up big for you.”

“They were only going to hurt us in that transitional moment. Defensively we had a lot of control in their buildup, but as soon as we turned the ball over you could sense that we were going to get punished,” he continued. “Sean did really well. He pulled a couple of his teammates out of it tonight.”

“And those errors, we have to tidy them up,” urged Herdman. “We talked about that at halftime, just cleaner, cleaner, cleaner. Or make sure we complete a final action, a cross or a shot, [that] the extra pass or the extra dribble leads to those moments.”

Toronto are back in action on Wednesday night with the visit of the Columbus Crew, fresh off their latest success, winning the 2024 Leagues Cup.

“We’ve got to harden up. We've got to do the recovery. We've got to embrace the challenge,” said Herdman of the quick turnaround. “It's an exciting opportunity to have Columbus at home. Not many people give you much chance against that team, the quality they have, but we were able to [partially] rest Lorenzo tonight, you could see that first 45, he was hungry, he was sharp, and he had that little bit of bite about him.”

“We managed to [leave] some gas [in] his tank ready to play a big match against Columbus,” he closed. “I'm sure he'll be up for it.”