Carefree Puddlemere release pressure valve

Puddlemere United - 560* vs Pride of Portree - 80

	Prides	United
Keeper	McCormack	Wood (C)
Chasers	McNewton	Lochrin
	Claverdon	Dingle
	Denholm	Blijk
Beaters	Van Hoorn	Blenkinsop
	Stroulger (C)	Caxton
Seeker	McBride	Hawthorne

This match was another with nothing but Pride at stake. For the Prides, victory would cement ninth on the table in a solid but hardly impressive season, as has become sadly predictable of them in recent years.

It was Puddlemere who by far had the most to play for though. A loss here would mark their seventh consecutive defeat and officially bring to a fitting end a season perhaps singularly more ignominious than any in their eight century history.

Phoenix Denholm and Thelma Caxton came in for each team respectively, likely as token gestures as neither had started yet this season. Philantha Beamish’s other alteration was to return Druella Dingle to chasing over the distinctly unimpressive Alexei Ramley.

Early on it was clear which team had more to play for. With the light that is the off-season at the end of their hellish tunnel, the pressure finally seemed to lift off United shoulders. For the first in months they looked to be enjoying their Quidditch. With their most experience and familiar Chaser unit together, Puddlemere were back on song, utterly dominating their sterile opponents.

It took little more than an hour for the snitch margin to be easily reached and crossed. Even the Prides’ headline Beaters were strangely off-colour, struggling to match Dougal Blenkinsop’s energy and precision. But it was Alcmene Blijk’s day, as she finally got the chance to show what a world class Chaser she is in a positive environment. Meanwhile, Nephele Lochrin was hardly a model of elite athleticism, but put in a display spirited and intelligent enough to just maybe salvage her place in one final England side at the end of the season.

Only Belarius McNewton showed any real Chaser quality for the Prides, who by the end of the second hour looked utterly and forlornly disinterested.

Mercifully for Portree, at that moment, seconds into the third hour, young Hugo Hawthorne pounced, snapping up the snitch and confirming a rather surprising shell lacking from the supposedly dead and buried Puddlemere on their shellshocked opponents.

Puddlemere United - 560: Blijk 24, Dingle 11, Lochrin 6, Hawthorne Capture

Pride Of Portree - 80: McNewton 6, Denholm 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: ALCMENE BLIJK (UNITED)