BASINGSTOKE Town had to settle for a point in their league opener at Walton Casuals, after twice taking the lead in the second half.

However, it did not start well for the Dragons as they found themselves a goal down in the first minute, as Youseef Bamba scored.

The visitors should have levelled after being awarded a penalty, when Sam Smart was fouled, but Sam Argent was denied by home goalkeeper Denzel Gerrar.

However, Town did equalise before half-time thanks to Dean Stow’s sweetly taken free-kick.

He was one of two players along with Zidan Akers, making their league debuts for Basingstoke.

After the interval, the visitors had a good spell of pressure and Sam Deadfield converted this into a goal thanks to a nice finish beating Gerrar low down on 49 minutes.

Back came the home side soon after as defender Joe Hicks made it 2-2 from a corner.

There was still more goals left in the contest and with eight minutes left, a cross from Smart was met by last season’s leading goal scorer Callum Bunting, which gave the visitors the lead again.

Just when it looked like all three points were safe, the home side scored a third time in the 90th minute, thanks to Hicks again, as the game finished 3-3.

On Tuesday night, Town open their home league campaign when Beaconsfield are the visitors.

They came back from 2-0 down on Saturday to draw 2-2 with visiting Salisbury.