There were moments last season when Alex Bono didn’t look ready.

That mistake in Orlando. That egregious misplay in San Jose. They were errors that inevitably saw Clint Irwin return to goal in advance of last year’s playoffs.

Then history repeated itself. Irwin suffered another freak injury back in March, providing Bono another opportunity to show he’s ready to be Toronto FC’s everyday starter.

The 23-year-old, third-year professional picked Wednesday night’s narrow 2-1 win over Orlando City to have the breakout performance of his career that might have solidified his place as TFC’s first-choice netminder.

“You have to have a goalkeeper who can make saves,” coach Greg Vanney said post-game. “It’s not necessarily every game that they have to pull you out but there are games over the course of the season where goalkeepers have to preserve wins.”

Orlando City undoubtedly would have escaped BMO Field with a point had it not been for Bono’s unbelievable heroics with a half-hour remaining — and, perhaps, a boneheaded play from Orlando striker Cyle Larin.

Larson wraps things up from BMO Field

Bono partially blocked Larin’s initial close-range attempt at goal in the 59th minute but didn’t get enough on the save to prevent the ball from continuing to trickle towards goal.

Larin, Orlando’s Brampton, Ont.-born striker, appeared destined to smash the ball into Bono’s vacated goal, but instead took his time and appeared more interested in walking the ball across the goal line.

That gave Bono the split-second he needed to get to his feet and recover in time to hook his arm around Latin and push the teasing ball outside the post, bringing 25,200 fans at BMO Field to their feet.

“In my head I thought, ‘Wow, that was awfully casual,’” Vanney said of Larin. “I didn’t necessarily think that Bono was going to get back. My afterthought was that he wasn’t as aggressive to get to that and try to put it away.

“It looked like he took a bit of his time and Alex was able to squirm his way back and deal with it. It was all kind of in slow motion there.”

Bono came up big again minutes later when after Larin met a left-sided cross metres from goal, TFC’s former first-round pick dove back and to his left to deny the shot and keep the Reds in front to the crowd’s amazement.

“Alex came up with some incredible stops, for sure,” Vanney added. “This win is because of the saves he made in the second half. We were able to hold onto it.”

Following convincing wins over Chicago and Houston prior to the concluding match of this three-game home stand, it looked like Wednesday night would be more of the same.

Sebastian Giovinco scored before the 10th minute off a feed from Raheem Edwards. The Atomic Ant lined up a low drive from the top of the box that beat ex-TFC ‘keeper Joe Bendik

Giovinco added his fifth of the season five minutes before halftime when a clever feed inside the box from Victor Vazquez allowed the Italian to score from close-range.

At 2-0, the Reds looked as if they’d run away with it before Kaka pulled one back seconds before the break.

The Brazilian legend capitalized off a set piece that Larin headed down for Kaka to meet at the back post.

“Obviously the letdown at the end of the first half meant that it became a real dogfight,” Vanney said. “We gave away some of our cushion. They came out of halftime pressing a little faster and a little higher.”

The Reds have struggled to connect passes in similar circumstances this season against Sporting KC, a side that also pressed TFC high and made it difficult for them to possess from back to front.

“We were having a hard time getting out clean and with possession in the second half and being able to shift the game to the other side of the field.

“We went into a diamond (in the second half) and matched up with them and they no longer had possession deep in our half. We took away their ability to get crosses and finished off the game in the right way.”

With a little help from their goalkeeper.

The Reds showed Wednesday night that sometimes you have to win and preserve results in different ways.

SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO HITS 50-GOAL MILESTONE

Sebastian Giovinco reached the 50-goal mark Wednesday night with his two-goal performance in a 2-1 win over Orlando City.

The Atomic Ant leapt into Victor Vazquez’s arms after doubling Toronto’s advantage near halftime.

“He’s obviously an incredibly special player. We’ve said as much so many times since the day he arrived and started wowing us,” coach Greg Vanney said.

“He put a lot of work in today for the group defensively. He put a lot of work in today to help us get out of situations. Obviously he had a good feel for where the goal was tonight.

“He’s very difficult to stop, especially when the team is moving quickly ... He doesn’t need many chances when he’s feeling it.”

The Italian now has 50 goals and 36 assists across all competitions since arriving before the 2015 season.

He has scored six times in total against Orlando City.

Giovinco now sits tied for third in Major League Soccer’s Golden Boot race — two goals behind Houston’s Erick Torres (7).

Had he completed his fourth hat-trick Wednesday night, Giovinco would have been just one off the MLS record (5).