One by one, they came. Two by two, they came. Ten by ten, they came. As early as 12pm, they began to fill the Ark. As early as 12pm, they began to fill the National Stadium.

On Sunday, March 29, 2015, more than two thousand people filled the Bermuda National Stadium to witness the second leg of the World Cup 2018 qualifying round match between the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Having secured a 5-0 win in an away game in the Bahamas, Bermuda’s national football team had injected a great sense of pride and unity into our Island at a time when it needed a healthy dose of both of these ingredients.

The grandstand of the stadium was filled to capacity, with all tickets having been sold out the day before — a kaleidoscopic sea of red Bermuda flags, blue replica jerseys and faces of every hue was the only view for more than two hours.

Every age, gender and race was being represented.

Bolstered with generous liquid concoctions, Bermudians danced, intoxicated by the bass laden beats of our Gombey drums.

The bass line became the unified heartbeat of a nation. Through it all, the hypnotic beat of the drums continued to keep heartbeats in sync and our Bermudian unity alive. As the teams walked onto the pitch, loud cheers were heard as if our young men dressed in red were triumphant, valiant warriors who had returned from war with invisible ticker tape raining down upon their heads.

Many had come hoping to feast on their predictions of another 5-0 scoreline.

However, with numerous missed chances and the carrying off of number 18 Justin Donawa, many were wondering why the score line was 0-0 at the half-time whistle.

Through it all, the hypnotic beat of the drums continued to keep more than two thousand heartbeats in sync and our Bermudian unity alive.

The question on the minds of many was, if we had controlled 85 per cent of the game, why had we not touched the back of the net?

Why were we not up by five or seven goals? Surely we had worked the pitch and kept the game in the Bahamas half of the field.

On perhaps two or three occasions, our keeper Freddy Hall had to pull Spiderman-like saves to prevent the Bahamians from scoring on one of their rare counter attacks.

In those hair-raising split seconds, he was definitely worth his weight in pink sand.

Then, suddenly, in the 79th minute, the inevitable miracle occurred.

Our star UK player, Nahki Wells, finally found the back of the net and proved once again that Dandy Town had groomed him well.

Four minutes later, Tyrell Burgess scored Bermuda’s second goal.

Number 29 Wells then fulfilled the prophesy by scoring his second goal for the game and, in doing so, sealed the fate of the Bahamians.

The stadium was ablaze with nationalistic pride with kaleidoscopic waves of humanity.

Complete strangers hugged each other, flags fluttered and tears flowed.

Nahki had worked his magic yet again.

For that brief two-to-four hour period, Bermudians were unified in Nahki’s Ark.