SANDY -- RSL fans packed Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday night to watch them take on the Houston Dynamo without Javier Morales.

After losing one of their key players a week ago, RSL players had to set aside their emotions from last week's 37th minute and try to get a win for Morales. They couldn't quite get that done as the match ended in a scoreless tie.

"Everybody has been really feeling for him," said midfielder Kyle Beckerman.

"He hasn't been feeling so good lately - has a good day, a bad day - so I think we kind of missed him out in practice this week and we haven't seen him so it was a little tough, but we try to move on and try to talk about it. We really wanted to get a win tonight to kind of bounce back after the injury, but we weren't able to do it so we'll just go back to putting in some hard work and try to do it next week."

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Real Salt Lake struggled to find an offensive spark in its first game without injured midfielder Javier Morales, playing to a 0-0 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.

Just before the clock started, RSL players held up a banner that read, "Get well soon, Javi!" then the starting line-up took the field with midfielder Collen Warner starting in Morales' position.

All eyes were on Warner as he took on quite the job of replacing Morales in the first game since his injury, but as the game began he seemed confident in knowing what he needed to do.

"I was really excited to get the chance to play and thought it went pretty well overall," said Warner.

"They've always believed in me and it definitely gives you an extra bit of confidence to know that even as a young player they're willing to throw you out there in games that really matter."

RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis expressed his thoughts on Warner's performance.

"Some good moments, some bad moments. It wasn't horrible. It wasn't great either," Kreis said after the game.

"It didn't check the boxes and answer the questions. It wasn't like he put the flag in the ground and said, "this position is mine" either. It's going to take some time for him to put his best foot forward. We're not walking out of here saying the job is his and we're not walking out of here saying the job isn't his. We're just saying we can all improve."

As the 11th minute was approaching, fans began to chant Morales' name. Fans also held up signs with the number ‘11' on them. All around the stadium were tribute signs giving get-well wishes to Morales.

As Warner was subbed out in the 59th minute, fans gave him a standing ovation for his performance in Morales' spot.

RSL had many opportunities to get the ball in the net, but the ball just didn't want to go in.

"I think it's going to be a process without Javi," said defender Nat Borchers.

"Obviously he's one of the most creative players in the league so when you lose a guy like that you're going to notice a difference, but I though that Collen stepped up and did well."

Beckerman agreed with his teammate that it may be a process without Morales.

"Maybe we're trying to get used to playing without him (Morales), because we have played without him a couple times last year and the year before so you'd think that being together we should know what's going on, so maybe we have to get used to that again. I thought we created enough chances, but you just have to bury one, you know."

RSL will now travel to face FC Dallas next Sunday before returning home to play the Seattle Sounders FC on May 28.

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