Having had very little luck in their league campaign this autumn, the Gods smiled on Harrow in the manner of their equaliser at the Camrose on Saturday, but nonetheless Borough performed with tremendous grit and resilience to earn their FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay against Basingstoke Town at Earlsmead tomorrow following a 1-1 draw.

With Daniel May having departed and Anthony Maissiat still unfit, not for the first time this campaign Dave Anderson had a defensive selection headache. Jake Gilbert and Julian Smith dropped into the back four, while John Sonuga started alongside Michael Peacock in the centre. All four were to play splendidly, minimising the number of shots that the Conference South toppers were able to fire in at Nick Jupp, who had a confident game between the sticks, in particular in his handling of crosses.

On a lush, freshly-watered surface, Harrow settled quickly and Nik Salapatas fired a long-range effort wide of goal early on. But after 12 minutes, a Borough move broke down and Town broke rapidly on the right, Chris Flood picked out Liam Enver Marum at the back stick and the striker made no mistake.

The fear was that the floodgates might open but, while Basingstoke held the upper hand for the rest of the half, they did not add to their score. Peacock came to the rescue with a strong challenge after a double error by Ryan Hope and Julian Smith, and Ben Long cleared the lines after a driven free-kick to the near post had caused some panic.

The home midfield were very quick on to their Harrow opponents, and when Long was dispossessed Sonuga came to his aid with a fine tackle. Brown got across the Harrow defence to flick Shaun McAuley’s cross over the goal, and another McAuley cross was stroked past the near post by Simon Dunn.

Harrow’s only notable effort in the first half came when Marc Charles-Smith got past his marker to the by-line and put in a low cross that was half-blocked, the ball coming to Hope on the edge of the box but he side-footed wide.

So, though they’d threatened little, Harrow reached half-time just one down and still well in the game. And home keeper Stuart Moore had to do his first serious piece of work of the afternoon early in the second half, going full-length to punch away a Salapatas corner.

Harold Odametey made a good block from Brown, but Harrow were gaining some belief and some hard work by Charles-Smith gave Salapatas the chance to put in a dangerous cross that Brown gathered well. Flood headed over for Basingstoke, but he was properly challenged as he did so - there was none of the allowing of free headers that has littered some recent league games.

After 65 minutes, Harrow won a free-kick 30 yards out in the inside-right channel. Salapatas curled in a lovely delivery, and Gilbert met it with a powerful downward header. Moore got down to push it away, but the ball ricocheted off McAuley and despite the efforts of a fellow defender on the line, in it went for the equaliser.

Jupp made a good catch from a Jamie Brown free-kick before Harrow had a free-kick in a similar place to where their goal came from. Salapatas noticed that Moore was well to the right in his goal and tried a cheeky effort to beat him on the near post. It was close to coming off but the home custodian got across his goal to save.

Gasson headed across goal from a corner, and Jupp made a great take from a Lloyd Macklin cross. Borough substitute Lewis Driver was working very hard and he nearly wriggled his way to a sight of goal before being stopped by a fine Jay Gasson challenge. Harrow were now posing more of a threat than at any time before, and Salapatas shot wide at the far post from a Michael Bryan cross, before cutting in from the left to hit a right-foot effort across goal.

Basingstoke have made a recent habit of scoring late goals, and Harrow lost to a 93rd minute effort at VCD Athletic the previous Saturday. So, when Basingstoke won possession in midfield in the 92nd minute and broke away, one feared the worst.

However, Smith, who had done really well in an unfamiliar role, took one for the team with a desperate challenge that felled the attacker. He was red-carded, the fourth Harrow sending-off in four games, but at last one for doing something the fans – and there was a good travelling contingent in a fine crowd of 728 – could understand.

Basingstoke will no doubt feel that they slackened off in the second half, and they will still be hot favourites for tomorrow’s replay, but if Harrow keep believing, and show the same guts and determination, anything is possible.