Douglas unable to celebrate history-making achievement with Portsmouth victory
Ian Douglas made history when he became the oldest player to represent Portsmouth in a league game.
Unfortunately, the 51-year-old couldn't celebrate his rewriting of the record books with a win as Weybridge Vandals won 27-22 in a London Three South West encounter at Rugby Camp.
Douglas went on as a second half replacement and helped Portsmouth in a spirited fightback.
Neil McRoberts had no hesitation about throwing him into the fray.
'Ian got on for the last 25 minutes during which time he got through a lot of hard work,' said the senior coach.
'He was solid in the scrummage, as we knew he would be, and good around the breakdown.
'In no shape or form did he look out of place.
'It is a fantastic achievement for a really lovely guy.'
There was little to choose between the two sides in a close-fought first half.
Three times the city club came from behind to lead 17-15 at half-time.
Vandals opened up with a try after two minutes but Kieran McRoberts side-stepped his way through to level the scores.
Another Vandals try was matched by a Noah Cannon effort with the Portsmouth player powering his way through tackles to score.
A hectic finale to the half saw Vandals lead again before Portsmouth were awarded a penalty try.
An injury to Tim Snowdon meant Portsmouth had to rejig their forwards and Vandals took advantage to score two further tries.
The home side refused to give up and, from a line-out close to the line, Finn Parry dived over for the bonus point try after a series of pick and goes.
McRoberts felt it was a game that could have gone either way.
'It was a cracking game of rugby between two combative sides,' he said.
'In the end it was a game I felt we lost rather than they won.
'Our error count in the second half was what really cost us.
'If you make that many mistakes against a good side then you are going to get punished.
'We lacked that necessary bit of accuracy.
'In situations we needed to show more patience instead of trying to force it.
'We were guilty of trying some ambitious off-loads and back of the hand passes.
'It is a bit of a shame because overall we put in a good performance.
'When we go through the phases and stick to our processes, then we showed that we can be a very dangerous side.'
The defeat means Portsmouth are fifth, a point behind Warlingham.