Improving Harpies dent stuttering Pride

Holyhead Harpies - 360* vs Pride Of Portree - 100

	Harpies	Prides
Keeper	Weatherwax	Merriweather
Chasers	Glossop (C)	MacPunnet
	Gladstone	Pilliwickle
	Birchgrove	Mordaunt
Beaters	Tolipan	Moriattis
	Goyle	Stroulger (C)
Seeker	Bloch	McBride

Although hardly a marquee clash, with both teams’ form leaving a lot to be desired, this encounter had the potential for major intrigue. The Harpies had showed glimpses of class in their upset win over the Falcons and somehow, despite such a mediocre set of early performances, had made a reasonable start to the season as far as results go.

The Prides came in with just a sole win over the lowly Cannons, but their season’s narrative was dominated by the crimes that had befallen their captain Terrence Stroulger and inspirational old Keeper Jericho McCormack. An actual genuine measurement of form was hard to gauge therefore.

There’d been enough promise from the Prides (who also benefited from the belated return of Stroulger) , as well as enough lapses from the Harpies, to suggest an upset was genuinely possible. But no-one told Gwenevak Glossop who finally hit her absolute peak, directing her Chaser traffic masterfully. After an impressive performance off the bench against the Falcons last week, Generys Gladstone returned to the starting Chaser line-up, replacing the struggling Gwynedd Gaenor. The experienced duo played off young Gweneth Birchgrove beautifully, playing the Prides Chasers out of the game.

There were but two pieces of genuine good news from the match for the Prides, and that was both their Beaters. Terrence Stroulger showed his time off had left no ill-effect, brutally continuing where he left off. Meanwhile Justin Moriattis took another step up, showing that he has quickly adjusted to his new club. Their efforts, which comfortably overshadowed the strangely flat Tolipan and Goyle, kept the Prides in the game, with the margin stuck around 100 points after two hours despite Holyhead’s Quaffle dominance.

But Portree had the brilliance of Zelda Bloch to contend with yet. Musidora McBride caught first sight of the snitch, raising Pride hopes as the win was there for the taking. But in the end it was no contest, Bloch’s superior aerodynamic technique and notably inferior size zipping her past McBride despite the older model broom.

Holyhead Harpies - 360: Birchgrove 10, Gladstone 6, Glossop 5, Bloch Capture

Pride Of Portree - 100: MacPunnet 6, Pilliwickle 2, Mordaunt 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: GENERYS GLADSTONE (HARPIES)