The day started badly as two of the more senior players failed to turn up at the appointed meeting time, which meant Gos only travelled with 16 players instead of the expected 18 and from there things only got worse.

Aldershot kicked off and within 7 minutes Gos suffered their first serious injury, as stand-off for the day Christian Weeks had to leave the field with a serious shoulder injury. This injury led to Aldershot's first try as Weeks was unable to put a tackle in on the try line due to his shoulder.

Gos reshuffled the team, with new player Dan Hall coming on for his first game as prop and flanker Matt Hutt dropping into the backs.

More misery was to follow on the 20 minute mark with Captain and number 6 Nick White having to leave the field with a bad knee injury. With Gos a man short, Aldershot scored their second try.

It even got worse. In the 30 minute, scrum half Brendan Warmsley had to leave the field with a very painful rib injury. Now two men short, Aldershot scored their third try and lead 15-0 at half-time.

With the game already lost, the second half had to be a damage limitation exercise as Aldershot scored early on.

Then Gos upped the tempo by continuously picking and driving forward, time after time, till referee Peter Cunningham had no option but to give a penalty for killing the ball. Each time it happened, Ryan Smith now playing at scrum half punished them each time by kicking the four penalties from all areas of the field.

"I am very, very proud of the performance," said Coach Colin Smith.

"We were outstanding in the second half. We really only had 10 fit players in the second half.

"The forwards were excellent picking and driving, the backs kicked when needed or just kept taking the ball back into the forwards. We even took scrums and line out's away from the opposition. Every set piece was a problem due to the junior laws of having even numbers in the scrum, which meant Aldershot had a 2 man overlap every time. However the Gos' defence was so tight we prevented them passing the ball out wide.

"Everyone played their hearts out and deserves to be congratulated. A big thanks to Dan Hall for an excellent first game, with hopefully more to come. The backs especially a big cheer, as many ended up playing out of positions and to be honest you would have thought they had played there for years. Karl Simpkin, normally on the wing was excellent at stand-off and Matt Smith another winger, superb at full back."

Next weekend the U18's take on Portsmouth at Rugby Camp in the Hampshire U18 Plate semi-final.