AFTER several years of Chawton Park men featuring at national indoor bowls finals, this season’s hopes lie squarely on the shoulders of Gary Johnson who will play his O60s area singles final later this month.

The club’s only other survivor, Adam White, slipped to a 16-21 defeat against Ken Prior in the two-wood singles at Banister Park.

The Hampshire County competitions produced a mixed bag of results for Chawton. Brian Scowcroft’s men’s fours team played out a very close match against Gary Lovett’s Loddon Vale rink before losing on an extra end.

There were two tight matches in the men’s triples. Mark Fyfield’s trio overcame Trevor Morgan’s triple 16-14 to move into the quarter-finals.

Adam White’s men were up against Colin Prosser’s triple from East Dorset and after a strong start by Chawton, a costly two ends found them three shots adrift. A timely four on the 16th end then edged Chawton ahead, only for Dorset to secure one on the penultimate end.

So it was 16-16 at the start of the last end. A fine attack from the Dorset number 2 left White’s team one shot down with a very small target. After four Chawton attempts to dislodge the shot, Prosser’s final bowl nestled beside the shot wood.

White’s eyes lit up and his perfectly-weighted wood rolled away the two shots for a Chawton victory.

Colin Prosser returned to Chawton later in the week to play Dick Holden’s trio in the O60s two-wood triples. With Robert Hutchinson and Charlie Spear in good form, Chawton secured a 18-9 victory.

Margaret Leppard’s triple had a difficult match against Sheila Stone’s side at Loddon Vale and lost 12-19.

There was more Chawton disappointment as Brian Scowcroft lost a close singles 18-21 against Jim Barrett at Atherley. Lesley and Gary Johnson, after leading for long periods of their mixed pairs match, succumbed to Carole Appleby and Derek Fuller, again at Atherley.

However, Barry Smith and Adam White cruised through their County pairs at Palmerston against Tony Farrington and Bill Ross, winning 23-5, while Danny Brown recorded a comfortable 21-8 victory over Banister Park’s Luke Bell in the U25s.

The friendly match against Alresford proved to be a one-sided affair, with Chawton winning on all four rinks (108-37).

Mark Fyfield and Adam White took part in an Open Singles Circuit tournament at Loddon Vale IBC, with almost 80 men and ladies taking part.

Fyfield won his first match before losing in the second round. White battled through five rounds of sets play to reach the final against highly-ranked Scott Edwards from Adur IBC. White lost 2-0.