Toronto FC lost 2-1 to Atlanta United on Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The two sides traded goals either side of half-time with Thiago Almada breaking free in the second minute of stoppage-time to give the hosts the lead and Federico Bernardeschi replying in the 46th minute for TFC.

As the final whistle approached and the match seemed destined to end level, Atlanta’s Jamal Thiaré pulled off some trickery of the highest order, grabbing a drink of water off the pitch before sneaking up behind Luka Gavran to steal possession and nab all three points for his side.

Bizarre conclusion aside, John Herdman liked what he saw from Toronto.

“The performance over 90 minutes was a collective. The team took a big step from Red Bulls,” said the TFC coach post-match. “We didn’t turn out as a team against Red Bulls, there was a lot of disconnect, but tonight the players were all in. You got that sense that they were grinding out a result, but also had chances to win it.”

“It was a good performance. I was proud of them taking that step forward; it was more a TFC road performance,” he continued. “And then what can you say about the last goal?”

“It's going to happen once in a goalkeeper's lifetime; probably going to happen once in my lifetime as well – I hope it never happens again,” said Herdman. “You make errors like that and you’ve just got to learn from them. I told Luka we love him. He's been brilliant for us, standing in for Sean [Johnson]. He's a young keeper and he made some big saves in that game.”

“It's tough. I didn't have too many words. It's just gut wrenching, but at the same time, there has got to be a response coming into the mid-week game at home against Orlando. We’ve got to keep moving forward,” he urged. “Tough to take with ten seconds left – I asked the fourth official how long is left, he said ten – I turned my back to walk to the bench and it was in the back of the net.”

Football never fails to offer up surprises.

“Honestly, it's strange that they won like that, but this happens in football,” said Bernardeschi. “This happens to a keeper once in a career maybe and this happened tonight.”

“We have to accept that,” he continued. “But Luka is our brother. He's training very good, he’s giving everything to the team, and all of us are with him 100 percent.”

After last weekend’s defeat away to New York, Herdman wanted his side to go ‘back-to-basics’ and that was evident in the stingy performance the side put in against Atlanta.

The home side were largely limited to half-chances and wisps of goal, at least until Almada found that one opportunity to breakthrough at the end of the first half and then that bit of skulduggery at the end, proving just how attentive a team needs to be over the course of the 90-plus minutes.

“We were very attentive,” said Herdman of the defensive effort. “Atlanta at home is a difficult place. With the crowd, they get good momentum here. [We] dealt with Almada pretty well most of the night. [He] had some good moments, but wasn't massively impactful and then he gets that moment where we don't turn with the man, we switch off – that's the difference in quality.”

“That's where you need collective defending for long periods. We had that tonight,” he continued. “Coming into the second half, they had about ten minutes of good momentum, a bit of momentum at the end of the game, outside of that we limited them to small amounts of risk. Disappointed we didn't get a result; thought we earned a result tonight.”

The week wasn’t just about going back to the foundational elements, but about coming back together as a unit in the midst of a tough spell.

“We had a great week this week,” said Bernardeschi. “We lost some feeling in New York, but this week we had a hard week in training, we came back together. We came back to the basic.”

“We were training very hard. We played a great game away, we had a lot of chances to score. We didn't deserve to lose honestly, but this is the reality,” he continued. “We will be good if we continue in this way: hard training, training to win, stay together, come back together like we are right now.”

Just before half-time is a tough moment to concede, but TFC had a response immediately through Bernardeschi, scoring his eighth goal of the season.

It was a goal, receiving a stretch pass from Lorenzo Insigne on the right, driving towards the opponents goal before picking out that far bottom-corner with his left boot, that he has scored many times before.

“We train that, we work that, teams try and work against it,” noted Herdman. “How many times did we get in that situation through the game? This is how we play: you find your way to get your top players, the DPs, on the ball. Atlanta tried to find their way with Almada and we found our way.”

“[Federico]’s been a real talisman for Toronto FC this season,” he credited. “We just need a bit more, a bit more from others to chip in. When we were in a strong streak we had players chipping in for goals and we had some big chances tonight.”

Toronto looked to have taken the lead in the first half, only for Insigne’s strike to be ruled offside by the slightest of margins.

“The goal, Lo [Insigne], decision was tight,” said Herdman, of Insigne getting on the end of a Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty cross in the 25th minute. “That was a great goal – rarely do you see Lorenzo score a headed goal. He was so happy; to have it chopped off was tough.”

TFC knew they had a response in them.

“John changed the pressing, put me in the wing-back position. In the first half too, we created a chance to score, they scored [first], but we knew that we can come back and we did,” said Bernardeschi. “We played very good in the second half. John gave us some advice. We came back strong.”

“When we play this year, I’ve never seen a team that is better than us or something like that,” he observed. “I’ve never seen a team much better than us, honestly. If we lost the game, it's only about us. We are still working on this and we have to continue like this.”

A point, or all three for that matter, would have been preferred, but the side will take heart from a solid performance as TFC looks towards an action-packed July on the horizon. Toronto will host Orlando City SC midweek at BMO Field before setting out for a tasty fixture away to the Columbus Crew next weekend.

“We had a rough game at Red Bulls. We were fragile. Tonight the lads, from the lads that started the game to those that finished the game – the Kobe Franklins, the Kosi Thompsons – showed a maturity and an ability to step forward to say, ‘Look, we're going to fight and we're going to help bring the energy that might have been lacking,’” highlighted Herdman. “It was a step forward tonight.”

“We should have had a result, there’s no two ways about it. We should have had a result. The football gods didn't give it to us for whatever reason,” he added. “We're going to suffer again for a couple of days, but [the team] felt they took a step forward in terms of their connection tonight. That will stand us in good stead going with confidence and trust into the Orlando match.”

Bernardeschi agreed: “We are in a good spot.”

“We have to be [proud] about the performance tonight. We have to be [proud] about the sacrifice that we put on the field. We are in a good spot,” he repeated. “The game against Chicago was a strange game. We came back from holiday, maybe we weren't focused. Nashville game, honestly, we deserved to win, but if we continue like this we are in a good spot for me.”

The Italian had a message for the fans in his final comments: “We know that Wednesday is very important for us. We play at home and I would be happy if the fans come to support us now. In a tough moment like this, we need them.”

“I'm calling [on] them to come on Wednesday because we need them: we need them, we need their support,” he closed. “We will do everything on Wednesday and be ready to win this game.”