-British League Quidditch Match – Kent Kings vs. Gwynedd Giants*-

Usually any match involving the Gwynedd Giants or the
Kent Kings wouldn't be of much interest to the avid Quidditch fan, as they are
both teams that find themselves towards the bottom of the Quidditch league.
However, when they play each other, it is guaranteed to be an interesting game.
In this case, both Gwynedd and Kent are fighting to stay in the league, and so
a win here for both of them was crucial. It was a tight match that lasted just
over four hours, however the Kent Kings came out on top in the end, with a
final score of 460-310.

Kent Chaser Caroline Hardy was back on the pitch after
taking a long time off after the birth of her daughter last year. Remarkably,
Hardy seemed to be back to her good form pretty much straight away and managed
to score two goals within the first ten minutes. The other two chasers for
Kent; Jamie Lawson and Chloe Reece certainly tried hard, but struggled with
their set plays; Reece especially seemed rather uncertain about where she was
supposed to be. The Gwynedd Chasers; Ciara Bradley, Amy Fox and Michael O'Reilly
struggled in the first hour with a few dropped balls and badly-aimed passes,
but managed to improve as the game went on and, especially in the last half
hour, their teamwork was exceptional.

Kent Keeper Jacob Harris played a stunning game,
making a number of saves that looked unreachable. He even managed to improve as
the game went on - stirred on by the crowd's cheers - and even made a catch
upside down on his broom in the last hour of the game which had the crowd
cheering even louder.

"I had an amazing time out there," he said
after the game finished. "The crowd were going wild, and it really helped
to keep me motivated. Their chasers played a great game, and I'm really
surprised at the amount of saves I managed to make."

The opposing keeper; Mervyn Wright, was abysmal in
comparison to Harris, and this allowed Kent to score just as many goals as
Gwynedd, despite their Chasers' all-over-the-place play. The crowd groaned as
Wright dropped multiple balls, and even scored an own goal about halfway through
the match. Gwynedd Captain and Beater, Owen Bates, said;

"Meryvn didn't have his best day today on the
pitch. But that's okay - everyone has off days, and in training he has shown
himself to be up to a great standard. We will see how he plays in our next
match, and if his performance is the same, we might give one of our reserves a
go."

Bates himself played a decent, but not outstanding
game, as was the case with all of the beaters on both teams. The other Gwynedd
beater; Sean Williams managed to make a few good hits, but suffered a blow to
the arm pretty early on in the game. Although not serious, it seemed to knock
Williams's confidence and he didn't get involved as much as he could have. The
Kent beaters; twins Annabel and Erin Rhodes were back after a few months off
suffering from Splattergroit, and so weren't on their usually excellent form.

The Seekers had a tough game as, for the
latter half of the match, the pitch was covered in fog. Gwynedd Seeker George
Baldwin narrowly missed a serious injury in a badly executed Wronski Feint, and
Kent Seeker Abigail Smith seemed to have some trouble controlling her broom.
However, it was Smith who managed to catch the snitch in the end, winning the
game for the Kent Kings.

Next match will be the highly anticipated
match between the London Lions and the Cornwall Cobras - it is sure to be an
interesting game, so be sure to come back and read about that!

-Written by Grace
Waterson

*Gwynedd is an area in north-west Wales, well known for being the home
of the Snowdonia National Park. Kent is a county in the south east of England,
bordering Greater London to the North West.