DARTFORD were only denied a memorable FA Trophy at big spending Crawley Town by a stoppage time equaliser on Saturday.

Crawley, who beat Swindon Town 3-2 in the FA Cup last week, might have selected the weaker of their 24-man squad but Darts had only 14 players available and this included a couple from the academy.

The fact Dartford were never behind in the tie speaks volumes for commitment, guts and unity of purpose.

Crawley were first to show in the game but Darts were first to score. A move along the left flank saw a pass to Charlie Sheringham who, with his back to the goal on the edge of the Crawley area, swivlled and volloyed a shot past Nick Jordan in the home goal.

Seven minutes later it was 2-0 to the Darts when Ryan Hayes scored direct from a right-side corner.

High-flying Crawley are no slouches and, prompted by master-mind Pablo Mills, they pinned Darts back with Andrew Young kept busy making excellent saves from Richard Brodie, Jamie Cook, Abdulai Bell-Baggie and Chris Flood. The visitors' woodwork also helped on one occasion.

After the interval Crawley piled on more pressure and reduced the deficit when Richie Brodie scored from close range on 55 minutes.

Crawley were now in full flight and on-loan Bell-Baggie had plenty of the ball down the right where his pace caused Darts problems.

Midway through the half a rare Dartford break saw Sheringham restore Darts' two-goal lead with a fine goal from just outside the area and it might have been 4-1 but for keeper Nick Jordan, who did enough to force Hayes to rush his shot on goal.

Adam Burchell replaced a busy Carl Rook with five minutes to go and, in a fine cameo performance, hit the base of Jordan's right post.

So it was down to the final few minutes, which saw the referee spot a penalty which even amazed the home players who accepted the gift in stunned silence.

Craig McAlister did the necessary with the early Christmas present and, two minutes into the four added on, Dean Howell fashioned the cruel leveller from a free-kick on the edge of the Dartford area.

Be warned – Crawley manager Steve Evans is a shrewd cookie and will already have his replay strategy in place for Tuesday night.

Dartford: Young, Burgess, Bonner, Bruce, Goodacre, Shinn, Hayes, Sheringahm, Rook (Burchell 85), Burns, Harris. Subs not used: J Burman, Eves, Whitehouse. Att 1,031.