 He made a further nine appearances for "The Great Old", to bring his total to 13, before returning to Manchester United at the end of 2007.Although he was not originally selected for the squad, Cathcart was briefly called up to the Manchester United first team for their tour of South Africa on 24 July 2008, and played the full 90 minutes in the team's 4–0 victory over Kaizer Chiefs on 26 July, his first appearance for the first team.He then came on as a 66th-minute substitute for Jonny Evans in a match against Portsmouth in Nigeria the following day, before then coming on for Wes Brown at half-time in a friendly against Peterborough United on 4 August.