Tim Cahill made his first start for New York Red Bulls since the end of March on Sunday.
The Australian midfielder played 61 minutes of his side's 1-0 win at FC Dallas and although he conceded a penalty, which was saved by Luis Robles, his performance was welcomed by head coach Mike Petke.
Cahill has been battling a hamstring injury in recent weeks but was able to get through the majority of the match in Frisco as the Red Bulls made it three wins from their past four outings.
"Yeah, I thought Tim had some very good moments for his first game back," said Petke who also saw Cahill the victim of a fierce tackle from JeVaughn Watson.
"The one thing that went against him was the red card (to Watson) on him. That was 10 minutes in or something like that and he was having a little bit of trouble, not enough where we had to pull him out right away, but it definitely hampered him a little bit.
"That's a big reason why he came off in the [61st] minute.
"But Tim did well. It's not easy coming back from that long [layoff] in those conditions.
"Overall, I think that his movement was good, his defensive responsibilities were very good, so happy with Tim for his first game back."
