Parkin magic salvages surprise tie

Wigtown Wanderers - 330* vs Ballycastle Bats - 330

	Wanderers	Bats
Keeper	Warburton	Malkin
Chasers	Drummond	Quigley
	Mackenzie	MacDuff
	Anstice	Evans
Beaters	A.Parkin (C)	Nutter
	Thruston	Smeek
Seeker	B.Parkin	Shettigar (C)

The Ballycastle Bats and Wigtown Wanderers have been two of the more disappointing teams of this year, particularly in comparison to their stellar 2011 efforts. But although finals Quidditch was now beyond them both for 2012, there had been glimpses of quality. Ajax Shettigar remains a formidable Seeking force and he, along with Demeter Quigley who for the second year in a row showed herself to be the new leader of this aging and transitioning Chaser unit, provided quality for Ballycastle and at least assured they escaped a Puddlemere or Chudley level of embarrassment.

Such a disaster looked distinctly possible for the Wanderers at the half way point of the season, but they have been deceptively threatening on the home stretch, making up for their lack of star power with an efficiency and smoothness as good as anyone in the League. Were the season a week or two longer, the Wanderers would fancy themselves a chance of sneaking into the eight.

The Bats were flat as a tack against Tutshill last week, consequently forcing manager Marcus Montgomery into three changes. But Ralph Bobbin had no need for alterations on the back of Wigtown’s season-defining triumph over the Harpies.

This recent form suggested that Wigtown should have the upper hand in this match, but the early exchanges painted a rather different picture. Quigley and her inexperienced new partner Perdita MacDuff combined brilliantly, surprising the ambling Wanderers with their energy with Quaffle in hand.

Wigtown’s lethargy suggested, especially considering their season was over in finals terms, that last week’s triumph may have in fact represented their Grand Final. Ballycastle had all the energy and quickly shot out to a commanding lead inside the first hour.

The second hour was tighter, as some silly errors from new additions Xavier Malkin and Egmont Evans with Quaffle in hand helped the Wanderers back into the contest.

A telling stat for the Bats is the fact that they have had the lowest average match time and score for the third year in a row in 2012. This more than anything speaks volumes about Ajax Shettigar’s majestic skills. The Bats have also been the only team to be involved in two ties this year, with Shettigar fluking the result against superior opposition by catching the snitch early.

It was a cruel and rather aptly season-summarizing irony therefore that this match would represent, quite astonishingly, a third tie in what is just a thirteen match season, but in the opposite direction.

Having dominated the two and a bit hours the match consisted of, the Bats found themselves 150 clear only for Wanderers Seeker Begonia Parkin to snap the snitch out of thin air seemingly.

The result left Wigtown ninth, awaiting other results to go their way this week to retain the possession. For the Bats, it was the end of a miserable season which saw just two wins and a likely final result of eleventh on the table at best.

Wigtown Wanderers - 330: Drummond 6, Mackenzie 6, Anstice 6, B.Parkin 

Ballycastle Bats - 330: MacDuff 18, Quigley 13, Evans 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: PERDITA MACDUFF (BATS)