In his last match he scored the goal that held Sunderland to a 2–2 draw at United's ground. The Manchester Evening News reported: "Payne could do very little and it was on the left wing that Manchester invariably made progress... Payne was inclined to show more vigour but he was a very weak spot indeed.". The paper reported that it was a scrappy game in which each team's defence played a more important part than the forwards. It said Payne redeemed himself when"clever play by Wall forced a corner and from this the ball went over to the right, Payne meeting it and putting it swiftly into the net... then in the closing minutes, from a shot by Payne, Turner nearly rushed through the winning goal."