The right back made his comeback from injury in Oldham Athletic's first Vertu Trophy group game, at home to Manchester City Under 21s.
And although the game ended in a 5-1 defeat for Latics, it was a breakthrough moment for Caprice and fellow long-term absentee Harry Charsley, who had been sidelined since January after hip surgery.
"It's a massive step forward," said Caprice. "You can't recreate game situations in training, the game intensity and stuff.
"It was nice to get back out there and it's another step forward and I'll keep building.
"It's been a long time and there's been a lot of hard work behind the scenes so I was happy to be back out there.
"It's amazing. Just preparing for a match, waking up in the morning and looking forward to a game again. It's been a long time and I'm just happy to be back out there.
"Naturally you're a little bit anxious because it's been a long time but you're fit, you've been training so you just try to play your normal game.
"Obviously you get the rustiness out and the cobwebs, I'm building and it's minutes in the bank now. Hopefully I'm not too far away now."
And Caprice, who was named manager Micky Mellon's player of the season in their promotion campaign, has thanked the physio and fitness team at the club for their role in his recovery.
"The physio staff have been telling me to chill out and I'll be ready when I'm ready. They've been brilliant with me," said Caprice, who played the first 35 minutes of the trophy tie, along with Charsley.
"They're looking after me and making sure that when I am back I stay in the team and stay fit. It's a long season.
"At this point now it's just minutes so it's up to the management to see how they do want to use me. It was brilliant to get half an hour so we're just building now. It's a long season, so all in good time.
"It's just nice to getting back to what felt like normal."