[2] Upon his move to Lincoln he was described as "playing a grand game when in the humour" by Aberdeen's Bon-Accord newspaper.
"[3] Clarke was a regular in Lincoln's team in his first season, appearing in 30 of the 34 Second Division matches.
He began at outside left, with George Fern inside him, but after five matches the two changed places.
He was ever-present in the side until a match against Manchester City at Hyde Road in February 1899:[4] with the scores level at half-time, Lincoln's defence held out for much of the second half, but the hosts scored twice late on, provoking "a degree of unpleasantness, which led to Clarke fouling an opponent badly and being ordered off the field.
[4] He appeared infrequently in the first half of the 1899–1900 season,[4] and had taken his totals to 7 goals from 35 league appearances by January 1900,[6] when Lincoln cancelled his contract and paid his train fare back to the Scottish borders where he had been working over the summer.