Wasps prevail in magical blockbuster

 Wimbourne Wasps - 830* vs Montrose Magpies - 550

	Wasps	Magpies
Keeper	Brookstanton (C)	Wintringham
Chasers	Pippins	Keitch (C)
	Branstone	MacLean
	Johnston	McTavish
Beaters	Nutt	Moriattis
	Oddpick	Ollerton
Seeker	Vogler	Abberley

So finally, here it was. One of the most anticipated domestic matchups in recent British Quidditch history. The Montrose Magpies’ 2012 season has been one of the most devastatingly dominant of modern times, so much so that they’re overshadowed the odds on preseason favourite Wimbourne Wasps, whose little-changing team over the previous number of years is considered one of the best ever.

But the 2010 champions only had that one title to show from it, having lost the 2009 Grand Final to the Arrows and fallen short of the Grand Final after topping the table last year. But toppling a team as red hot as the Magpies on the way to a second League Cup title would without doubt confirm the team’s still disputed immortality.

The irony of the situation was that this match had very little bearing on the overall League Cup prospects of either team. Both sides are already guaranteed a top two finish, the Wasps' fourth consecutive. But there was the small matter of the minor premiership to be decided. Some big recent wins for Wimbourne, combined with the Magpies tight and relatively high-scoring win over the Arrows last week, had closed the percentage gap. A win by around 300, depending on the score, would likely leapfrog the Wasps to the top.

But none of that mattered when it came down to it. This match was about pride, about establishing a true (albeit very temporary pre-finals) supremacy over British Quidditch.

Amedeus Pegley sprung no surprises, sticking to his expected seven, but Wasps manager Amos Golpalott made one perhaps slightly unexpected change. Wilhemina Aldermaston was not reinstated despite playing well in her limited opportunity. Bruno Pippins had impressed so thoroughly when playing for the ‘second seven’ last week against Wigtown that was retained. Venus Vogler getting the risky but ultimately logical nod as Seeker over Sergius Hansen was rather less of a surprise.

The Wasps came into the match with the supposed advantage of freshness, with all but Pippins and Vogler having been rested against the Wanderers. But this was clearly of no help to them in the early stages. Indeed, the returning players looked ever so slightly lacking in intensity over the opening minutes, as Farquhar MacLean led the way for the early leading Magpies.

Montrose had the run of play for the first hour, establishing a fifty point advantage, a lead which should have been bigger but for the fantastic defence of Beaters Gaius Nutt and Erasmus Oddpick and the preordained steadfastness in goal of Apollo Brookstanton.

The fans were certainly not being let down, with the Quidditch quality living up to every expectation. The speed and skill on display was phenomenal, with the scoreboard giving the appearance of a high scoring game despite the fact that each team’s rock solid defence dominated the play.

The Magpies all male line-up (Seeker Abberley aside) is matchable by no-one in the League for physicality and athleticism. Farquhar MacLean led the way early, outshining even his two highly credentialed colleagues. But even the Magpies lack the tactical nous and togetherness of the Wasps. As the match went on it was a pleasure to behold as the Wasps Chasers, safe in the knowledge that their defensive three (Brookstanton, Nutt and Oddpick) can hold any fort, subtly went apart picking through and stretching wide the minimal holes in the Magpies’ setups.

Delphine Branstone, much criticized for choking in her firstr match exposure during the Finals last year, made up for every error in 2011’s Preliminary Final and then some. Branstrone was the architect of the Wasps’ ferocious upshift, taking unorthodox sharp defensive lines to counter the Magpies’ short jagged support lines. With the Quaffle she was just as brilliant, leading an increasingly confusing and remarkable run of Wollongong Shimmy based set plays. With Branstone at the helm, the Wasps were reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters novelty team in a Muggle sport called Basketball. The perfectly read lines and offloads of the three Chasers confounded the opposition and wowed the gathered masses.

Bruno Pippins’ efforts were stellar, taking it to the Magpies physical Chasers with a kamikaze-like courage, freeing up Branstone and Jadzia Johnston to score goals aplenty.

With Johnston well and truly back in form, the six Wasps were a united front of peerless pressurizing play. It was only the return brilliance of the Magpies which kept the contest alive well into the fifth hour.

With the Wasps creeping clear towards a lead of 150, Alison Abberley’s noticeable hurry paid off when she ducked low to the ground hoping to glimpse the snitch and saw it skirt against the scaffolding of a corner grandstand. Abberley swooped but found her path blocked by Nutt and Oddpick. Never a pair to have one snuck past them, both Wasps Beaters pounced on the Magpie Seeker. Abberley’s ingenuity and agility allowed her to somehow avoid being struck, but in the delay she lost temporary sight of the snitch and sped off towards its new, slightly higher and more centre-field location, in a slow round arc. Venus Vogler was able to cut Abberley off and beat her there, jetting towards the ground near the starting circle like an arrow. Vogler beat Abberley to the snitch by a matter of feet and needed only one swipe at the air to decisively grasp it.

It was an aptly stunning finale to what had been a really remarkable match, with the Wasps’ proving decisive victors, reminding everyone (not least the Magpies) why they were the undisputed short-priced favourites at the start of the season. The Wasps will now be very much the team to beat if anyone else has intentions of winning the 2012 League Cup.

Wimbourne Wasps - 830: Johnston 29, Branstone 26, Pippins 13, Vogler Capture

Montrose Magpies - 550: MacLean 33, McTavish 15, Keitch 7

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: DELPHINE BRANSTONE (WASPS)