Duke played the full 90 minutes for Shimizu S-Pulse in their Group A Japanese J.League Cup 1-0 loss to Kashiwa Reysol on Wednesday.

It was the first time Duke had started a competitive game since suffering the knee injury in April last year.

The 26-year-old former Central Coast striker had returned to action as an injury-time substitute for Shimizu in the J.League a fortnight ago, but this was his first significant period of game-time.

Elsewhere in Japan, Nathan Burns received some much needed game-time, after missing the final cut for the 23-man Socceroos squad this month.

Burns started and played 61 minutes for FC Tokyo in their 6-0 win over Vegalta Sendai, although he was among the scorers.

Finally in the Danish Cup overnight, Mustafa Amini and Chris Ikonomidis both didn’t feature as AGF reached the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win at Horsens.