When competitive football resumed after the war, Roe joined South Shields, newly elected to the Second Division.

[3][4] Roe must have impressed his opponents, because he signed for them a few weeks later having played only twice in the league for South Shields.

[6] Roe spent the next season in the Third Division with Gillingham, where he found more playing time but few goals, scoring twice from 16 league appearances.

[2] His performances with Castleford earned him a move a year later back to the Football League with Arsenal.

Although he joined well after the start of the season, he still became their leading scorer for 1923–24; described as "hard as nails despite only being of moderate height", he scored 12 goals from 30 games in all competitions in the year he spent with the club.