PAUL Gazzard was red-carded for the second game in succession as 10-man Bashley were denied a heroic three points by a stunning last-minute strike.

Gazzard saw red following two yellow cards, the second of which seemed a little harsh.

And sadly for the defender, it means he will definitely be out of the much-anticipated arrival of AFC Wimbledon in a fortnight's time.

But a man down against Burgess Hill, and with the scores level at 1-1, Bash played some of their best football of the match, a fact which puzzled Bash boss Geoff Butler.

"We seem to be at our best when we're down to 10 men," said Butler.

"We should be full of confidence and we're not and I knew that as soon as we went down to 10 men we would be at our best and we were because all of a sudden, there's no fear."

"The game was there to be taken by the scruff of the neck but we didn't have the confidence to do it.

"We kept giving the ball away and straight away they're going to be thinking 'this lot aren't that good'. Then you've got a real problem because you're on the back foot.

"They weren't a bad side but we were very poor at times and the first half, we were shocking."

The early signs looked good for Bash and Dave Wakefield could have given the New Foresters the lead after just three minutes but his looping header flew over the crossbar.

New goalkeeper Alan Walker-Harris, a recent signing from Lymington and New Milton, came to the rescue for his new club after 16 minutes, when his double save from Ben Fillery and then Steve Harper kept the scoreline blank.

Five minutes later though, Walker-Harris was picking the ball out of the back of the Bash net for the first time.

Harper fired a decent effort towards goal and with a large chunk of luck, his strike took a wicked deflection off Danny Potter to wrong-foot Walker-Harris to hand the visitors the lead.

With 30 minutes on the clock though, and Bash showing signs of why they are in the upper reaches of Ryman One, they deservedly drew level.

Steve Tate won a free kick on the edge of the box and Andy Culliford produced an excellent ball in for Richard Gillespie to turn and fire in his 18th goal of the season.

Gazzard was then shown a red card for a second bookable offence for a trip on Harper, leaving the Bash faithful a little jittery as to what the final outcome would be.

Against the odds though, with 20 minutes remaining, substitute Chris Knowles fired Bash in front after some good work from the ever-lively Gillespie.

The 2-1 lead looked as though it was going to be enough to give Bash three valuable points against a side shoulder-to-shoulder with them in the table but predictability and football have never really gone hand in hand.

And with 60 seconds left on the clock, Harper produced a superb swerving strike that Walker-Harris could do nothing about as it flew into the top corner of the Bash net for 2-2.

Bashley: Walker-Harris, Gazzard, Ferrett, Potter, Jones, Culliford, Gee, Byles, Tate (Knowles 63), Gillespie, Wakefield. Unused subs: Totczyk, Harper, Head, Gibbens.