It was a night to remember. It was a night to forget.

Toronto FC were humbled on Saturday night, suffering a 5-0 defeat away to the Philadelphia Union, who overtake top spot in both the Eastern Conference and the Supporters’ Shield race with the victory.

Sergio Santos opened the scoring, as he did in the last meeting earlier this month, come the 27th minute. But unlike the previous game, TFC could not find a response.

Mark McKenzie added a second in the 33rd minute with a header from a corner kick. Jamiro Monteiro struck from range in the 56th minute. Santos added his second seven minutes later on a devastating counter attack and completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute on another lightning fast move that caught Toronto out.

It was Philadelphia’s night.

It could have been more were it not for further heroics from Quentin Westberg.

“It was wrong from start to finish,” summed up Greg Vanney post-match. “We weren't close to them the entire night really.”

“We weren't in good spots for each other. We weren't clear in terms of how we were going to defend. We couldn’t put passes together and they were just at a different speed than we were, that's for sure,” he continued. “Part of it is we need to put it behind us, but part of it is that we also need to recognize [this is] a reminder this time of year you’ve physically got to be ready to compete and battle and fight for balls and win tackles and all of those things, first and foremost, and then you can play.”

“You’ve got to be strong when you're holding up the ball, the ball has to move a lot quicker. A lot of that stuff has to happen and tonight it didn't,” he added. “We're missing some guys, but guys had the opportunity to step in and show that this time of year they might be able to help us and from start to finish it was never right. We were too far away from them for much of the night, they had way too much time on the ball, if there were duels we lost most of them. That's something that has to be cleaned up. We'll discuss this, but we’ve also got to put it behind us because we’ve got a game in another few days.”

Toronto were missing some bodies – Jozy Altidore, Chris Mavinga, Ayo Akinola, Pablo Piatti, and Jonathan Osorio – but that is no excuse.

“Anybody who has played or been a part of football understands that, unfortunately, there are nights like this,” reminded Michael Bradley, who made his 200th MLS regular season start. “They're not fun. There's no excuses. But it's just part of it sometimes.”

“We have a really good team. We've had a really good team over the past handful of years. And we've been fortunate enough, good enough, to make sure that nights like this are as few and far between as possible, but the reality is still that it happens anyway,” he explained. “The reality is very simple. We are going to make sure that we use it as a real reminder as we go into this last part of the season and into the playoffs of what games this time of year are like, of the way that some of these different teams tried to make the game hard on us.”

“We're going to use it as a reminder about what our mentality and commitment and focus has to be like at the beginning of games,” he added. “We're going to use it all the right ways and at the same time we’re going to get back to Hartford, we're going to wake up in the morning and we are going to move on and get ourselves ready for Wednesday.”

Toronto are back on the pitch midweek at Rentschler Field when NYCFC come to town.

Heading into Saturday’s action, TFC were top of the table, with the win the Union make up the three points difference and with their vastly superior goal difference, take over the top spot. With three games left, the race is on.

“Obviously credit goes to them because they played at a proper playoff-like intensity,” levelled Vanney. “As a group we didn't match that. That's what you expect this time of year: teams to come out like that.”

“When you're fighting for Supporters’ Shield or the top of the table,  you expect the team to come out fighting and you've got to be ready to push back and set the intensity bar, but tonight it got set on us,” he continued. “We've got to take that as a hard lesson, as we go through these last games. Not one that we needed to take, but we're going to take it and we're going to have to move forward.”

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“That part is real, the challenge of still finishing out a game when you've had a night like that and when you get into the middle of the second half and there's no chance to win,” said Bradley. “To still find the right way to finish the game, that part is not fun, but it's something that everybody has to deal with.”

“We're going to look at certain things, we're going to talk about certain things, we're going to make sure that we use it as a reminder, as a recalibration of what we need to be about as we move into these last few games of the regular season and into the playoffs,” he added. “But there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves and nobody's panicking. I promise you that.”

TFC had not been defeated since September 5. They responded to those two losses with a run of nine unbeaten.

It’s not what happened in the past. It’s what you take from it as you move forward.

“You never want it to happen, you never look for it, but when you get physically outperformed, it's a reminder of what the playoffs are like,” highlighted Vanney. “Guys got a little bit of flavour tonight of what the competition level needs to be when you get to playoff time, or in this case when you're playing for a trophy. It can be a positive if we take away from it and bounce back and come out fighting the right way.”

If there is anything to crow about from a night such as this, it is that two homegrown players made their first team debuts.

18-year-old Ralph Priso came on in 64th minute and 16-year-old Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, the youngest ever player to feature for TFC, in the 72nd minute.

“I wish it was a game that was closer, but in the end, their opportunity came, they came on and they did fine,” said Vanney. “There wasn’t a lot left in it, but I Jahk was spry, had himself a great opportunity – the best one that we had all game. He was busy and active.”

“And Ralph was able to get the game under him and help us to win a couple balls, help us to move the ball forward a bit,” he continued. “It was nice for those guys to get a feel for it all. It's unfortunate it was on a night like tonight where a lot of other things weren't going well, but I'm happy for them to at least get a sniff.”

Added Bradley: “Let's be honest, that's far and away the best part of the night – that two young, Toronto boys from our academy, who have worked hard to sign first team contracts and push themselves in this last stretch in training every single day, both get the opportunity to make their debut.”

“And both of them showed that they are not going to be fazed one bit,” he continued. “Certainly, for all of us on the inside of the group, and hopefully for everybody connected to the club –  the coaches in the academy that they've had along the way, their parents, their families –  that should be a really proud moment.”