Eric joined the club at the start of the 1958/59 season, having previously played as an amateur for Blackburn Rovers, and scored twice on each of his first two appearances for the Dons - the pre-season celebration game in Luneray, France, and the season opener at Barking - but National Service intervened and his only game at Plough Lane was a few weeks later when he returned to play against the Dons for the R.E.M.E. 4th Training Battalion.

Eric moved back to Haslingden and later played cricket alongside Clive Lloyd for the local club in the Lancashire League and football in the Accrington Combination for SS Stotts.