After two minutes of the match, the home goalkeeper "failed to deal with a centre by [Tommy] Hird, and Bonass dashed in and headed the ball out of his hands into the net".
[15] His opening goal in the FA Cup first-round replay against Halifax Town created such excitement among the spectators that they broke through the barriers separating terraces from pitch.
[18] As in the previous season, Hartlepools played Halifax Town in the FA Cup, and again, they won after a replay; Bonass was involved in three of their four goals, two of which were scored when his shot was parried to another player.
[6][21] He went straight into the starting eleven,[21] scored the opening goal in the first home match of the new season, against Norwich City, and the Derby Evening Telegraph's correspondent was impressed: "Bonass, at outside-left, was the pick of the line, for he generally shot accurately, and he showed a good idea of combination.
"[22] At Christmas he scored the only goal of the game against Aston Villa,[23] and contributed two – one a neat back-heel – to a 4–0 win against Swansea Town on New Year's Day.
[24] His goal return for the season was 14 from 39 league games as Chesterfield finished in mid-table,[21] and he was part of the team that beat Derby County to win the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
[28] He had returned to fitness by mid-January, when his team's FA Cup third-round victory reportedly "owed much to ... the dash of Bonass and Clifton in the forwards".
[38] He moved on to London club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in June,[39] and played in all three of their matches before the 1939–40 Football League season was abandoned when war broke out.
[3][39][42] He had a strong shot,[39] and was a good taker of goalscoring chances, although the Northern Daily Mail's correspondents noted a tendency to miss the easy ones.
[45] Bonass completed the 1939–40 season with QPR in the wartime league,[46] which although not regarded as competitive was certainly taken seriously: against Chelsea in December, he was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg, victim of a tough tackle "like many others in this pacy, no-quarter struggle" where the "war of words between rival fan factions on the terrace reminded [the Daily Express's Stanley Halsey] of the Glasgow Rangers–Celtic match".
[47] He played some 30 times for QPR thereafter,[48] and guested for a number of clubs including Aldershot,[49] Brentford,[50] Chesterfield, Fulham, Luton Town, Southampton, Watford and York.
[5] In the early hours of 9 October 1945, he was the wireless operator aboard a Short Stirling bomber on a training flight when it stalled and crashed in the main street of the village of Tockwith, North Riding of Yorkshire, which was on the edge of the RAF base at Marston Moor.