SANDY — Adam Henley didn't expect his Major League Soccer debut to come Saturday night during Real Salt Lake's 2-1 win over Vancouver.

But the former Premier League defender made sure he was ready.

Less than 15 minutes into the match, RSL starting fullback Demar Phillips pulled up lame with an injury. Head coach Mike Petke turned to his bench, and picked out the Knoxville, Tennessee, native who spent the past 21 years of his life in England.

"You're up," he seemed to motion with one move.

A little shell-shocked and bewildered — he hadn't even trained with the starting XI during pregame warmups — Henley quickly found his groove.

"It was unexpected, but I was ready for it," said Henley, 23. "It's always hard when you’ve got to jump in so early to the game, missing out on so many warmups. You just have to hit the ground running, adjust yourself and help the team any way you can."

That didn't make it any easier, though. Among Henley's responsibilities at left back was holding off a Whitecaps front that featured Kei Kamara, Alphonso Davies and a punishing counter-attacking style.

But after 80 appearances in England's Premier League and league championship with Blackburn Rovers, Henley proved up to the challenge — after a brief warmup and stoppage in play almost immediately following his arrival.

"It's always tough," Henley admitted. "As players, it’s often the hardest thing to cope, going on so early in the game. But you’ve just got to deal with it. You haven’t got time to think about it. You just go straight on and do the best you can."

Henley wasn't the only early addition Petke was forced to make. Just after the 40-minute mark, central defender Marcelo Silva went down with another injury.

This time, the head coach found veteran David Horst on the bench and called him up. The 32-year-old center back with five goals in a decade of MLS experience proved himself ready, holding Kamara to two shots and keeping the Whitecaps off the board until Brek Shea's stoppage time goal in the 2-1 win.

"I thought Adam and David settled in pretty well; I honestly do," said Petke, a former MLS defender himself. "Once Henley got into the rhythm, after about five to 10 minutes, he did very well."

Real Salt Lake (2-2-1) finds itself fighting more injuries, but doesn't have time to feel sorry for itself, either.

The club travels to New York City FC for a 5 p.m. MDT kickoff Wednesday before a 10-day layoff prior to hosting regional rival Colorado at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21.

RSL 2, Vancouver 1

Silva, Savarino lead RSL to win over Vancouver at rain-soaked RioT

Luis Silva and Jefferson Savarino scored a goal apiece to help Real Salt Lake take a win over visiting Vancouver, 2-1, in front of 16,015 at a rain-soaked Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday.

But if all surprise subs play like Henley and Horst, Petke won't worry about a lot of things.

"We're five games in, we’re 2-2-1 now, and we have 29 games left to go," he said. "We're not panicking. We're not worried. We just won 2-1, and we’re going to rejoice in that before we have a very quick turnaround on a small field against a tough team like NYC FC.

"We’re going to continue to get back to the way we want to play."

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