The Montreal Impact were hoping to finally get a road victory and wipe the Toronto FC out of the playoffs Saturday but only managed to accomplish one of those goals.
Toronto FC's playoffs hopes died for the eighth straight year Saturday afternoon, thanks to a 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact in a game that saw three players sent off.
Warren Creavalle scored for Toronto, which had the better of play in the first half and pressed late in the game for the winning goal.
Felipe replied in the 39th minute for Montreal with a hard shot from the let side after receiving a pass from Andres Romero. The Brazilian was a thorn in Toronto's side all afternoon.
Impact striker Jack McInerney came close to giving the Impact a lead but his shot bounced off the crossbar in the 54th minute.
The Impact's Heath Pearce was sent off with a red card for a late tackle and with seconds left and hostilities rising, TFC's Jonathan Osorio was red carded for a foul on Felipe. Less than a minute later Hassoun Camara was sent off with his second yellow card.
The Impact next play Wednesday in New York against the Red Bulls in a CONCACAF Champions League game, a tournament that could keep the team playing throughout the winter.
The Impact finish their regular season next Saturday at 4 p.m. at home against the D.C. United, in what will be striker Marco Di Vaio's last game with the team.
Toronto (11-14-8) had needed to win its remaining games against Montreal and New England and hope that fifth-place Columbus lost both its matches against New York and Philadelphia.
Instead Eastern Conference cellar-dweller Montreal (6-18-9) played spoiler, denying TFC the points it needed and booking Columbus a berth in the playoffs. The Crew play the Red Bulls on Sunday.
Toronto can't have any complaints, picking up one point from 12 available in the last four matches.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
