Derby travelled to Lincoln on Wednesday May 3, 1939, to play in a benefit game arranged for the Imps’ Scottish striker Johnny Campbell. Campbell, the second highest goalscorer in Lincoln City’s history, and only one of two players to have scored over 100 Football League goals for the club, was due to retire from professional football that summer due to injury.

Derby finished the 1938/1939 season in 6^th place in Division One and had already played their final league game at the end of April, a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Baseball Ground. The Rams sent a strong side to Sincil Bank with Lincoln fielding a team that included a defence made up mostly of players from First and Second Division clubs.

The Lincolnshire Echo match report described the game as ‘lively’ and ‘there were many interesting passing bouts and clever touches’. Derby opened the scoring in the first half. A clever dribble from Dally Duncan led to a Jack Stamps cross which Tweedy, in the Lincoln goal, came to collect. However, the goalkeeper was ‘dazzled by the sun’ and let the ball slip between his hands which allowed Dave McCullock, George Jobey’s record £9,500 signing, to apply a side-footed finish to open the scoring. The Rams’ then made it 2-0 in the second half when a pass back by Callender was intercepted by Ronnie Dix who slipped it past Tweedy.

Lincoln City: Tweedy (Grimsby Town); Milburn (Chesterfield), Callendar (Lincoln City); Iverson (Aston Villa); Gray (Sheffield United); Wattam (Grimsby Town); Hancock; Wilson; Campbell, Marlow, Clare (Lincoln City)

Derby County: Boulton; Nicholas; Wilcox; Hann; Bailey; Ward; Jefferies; Dix; McCulloch; Stamps; Duncan

Attendance: 3,486

The official programme is a simple small single-sheet with team line-ups on one side, and the league tables on the reverse. Interestingly, Willie Steel is listed in the Derby line up but the match report shows that George Wilcox played instead.