NEW YORK — The good news for New York City FC on Saturday was that Frank Lampard was healthy enough to be in the starting lineup after injuries forced him to miss three straight starts.

The bad news was that Lampard wasn’t able to do much to keep NYCFC from suffering yet another heartbreaking loss.

Lampard played 60 minutes, contributing a tidy, if unspectacular shift, and he was on the bench when Columbus scored a late winner to drop NYCFC to its fourth loss in six matches.

“It was very good to see him out there,” NYCFC coach Jason Kreis said of Lampard. “I think he was connecting on runs pretty darn well. Had a lot of positive play. I would say he’s definitely not match fit, but gave us 60 quality minutes.”

Though Kreis spoke positively of Lampard’s performance, the 37-year-old former Chelsea star acknowledged he was still far from his top level. After Saturday’s match, Lampard lamented his inability to play at the level most have grown accustomed to seeing him play at, but also sounded optimistic about being able to make the most the team’s upcoming two-week break.

“I can’t be at my best. I’ve only trained for days rather than weeks,” Lampard said. “This is a perfect break for me actually to get some good training in, two weeks. (Playing 60 minutes) was the max. I’ve had problems with injuries here, muscle injuries, and I’ve been pushing to try and get back and it’s difficult.

“These two weeks will be a godsend just to get real match fit because it’s not easy trying to train daily,” Lampard said. “I need a bit of base fitness and fortunately I’ll get that and hopefully I’ll be able to contribute more myself.”

NYCFC will need him to play at his best, and soon, if the club’s fading playoff hopes are going to be revived. Though a big part of the team’s problems have had to do with defensive woes, Lampard’s injury situation hasn’t helped. He has missed six of the possible nine matches he could have played in to this point, and his struggles have also kept him from reaching full fitness, which in turn have made him less effective in the matches he does play in. NYCFC is 2-5-2 since Lampard arrived from England at the start of July, and is 0-3 in the matches he has started in.

When asked whether he might have regretted not joining NYCFC in the winter rather than extending his time with Manchester City, Lampard was unapologetic and made it clear it was the desire of club ownership to have him stay with Manchester City that drove him to stay.

“Man City wanted me to stay. We have the same owners at this club as Man City have, and that was their desire, for me to stay,” Lampard said. “I’m a player and employee. I stayed. I can’t say that I didn’t like my time at Manchester City because I really enjoyed it.

“I want this to be as enjoyable,” Lampard said of his time with NYCFC. “Wins help. When the team’s not winning it’s obviously not as enjoyable, so I’m going to do anything I can to help us get wins and make this time as enjoyable. I want to be successful.”

Though he didn’t express regret about joining NYCFC in midseason rather than in preseason, he did shoulder some blame for his injuries struggles.

“I think I probably came and tried to get fit too quickly,” Lampard said. “It’s easy with hindsight. The results weren’t fantastic at the time and I really wanted to come in and make that difference. But who knows?  I could have done everything right, but muscle injuries can come at any time.”