Darlington’s dramatic FA Cup first-round draw away to Walsall at the weekend turned out to be a truly memorable occasion for the non-League club’s Bermudian pair of Justin Donawa and Osagi Bascome.

The visiting side trailed 2-1 six minutes into second-half stoppage time when they managed to snatch a last-gasp equaliser, with Bascome providing the assist from a free kick to set up a replay at their Blackwell Meadows Stadium.

“It was a great experience,” Bascome said. “One of the best football moments I’ve been a part of and even more special to have been involved in the second goal.

“Just glad we can give the fans something to look forward to in the replay at Blackwell.”

There was absolute pandemonium among the travelling Darlington fans after Joe Wheatley grabbed the equaliser to keep the club’s impressive run in the competition alive.

“What made the night so special was the away fans who made up 1,229 of the 2,882 in attendance,” Donawa said. “They were loud from warm-up to the very end. Because of them, it was one of the best football atmospheres I’ve ever experienced; probably the best.

“The 97th-minute equaliser which Osagi assisted means the world to us and the fans, and you could see that from the celebrations. The fans deserved that.”

Darlington led 1-0 at the half on Omar Holness’s seventeenth-minute strike.

However, Sky Bet League Two side Walsall rallied after the break and struck twice inside three minutes before Wheatley’s late heroics.

“We dominated the first half and deserved to be 1-0 up at the break against a team that was supposed to dominate us,” Donawa added.

“I think we probably shocked a lot of people with how well we started and how hard we fought the whole game.”

Both teams finished the match with ten men, as Walsall’s Dan Scarr and Darlington’s Ben Hedley were sent off in the second half after being shown a second yellow card.

Darlington will host the replay to be televised live on November 20, just a day after Bermuda are set to face Mexico in the Concacaf Nations League.

Darlington manager Alun Armstrong had been hopeful of keeping Bascome and Donawa from travelling away on international duty before the Cup replay.

However, the pair have since joined up with the Bermuda squad for a training camp in Frisco, Texas, ahead of a friendly match tomorrow against Major League Soccer side DC United in St Croix, US Virgin Islands.