Former Torquay man Morgan put Crawley ahead against Tranmere, but Will Vaulks’ leveller on the hour denied the Red Devils their first home league win in seven months as the match finished 1-1.

Blackwell, Warnock’s long-time assistant, took over the Crawley hot seat on an interim basis after Colin Kazim-Richards was sacked earlier this week.

And he believes Morgan epitomised the battling qualities the Red Devils will need with only one league win so far.

Blackwell said: ”Neil rang me to say Dylan is a player he has known from Torquay and he’s good.

“He scored with a powerful shot and I will certainly be wanting more from him.”

Blackwell described it as “a blood and thunder game” in bad weather conditions and felt his team had put down “a marker.”

He stressed: “It’s only a start. We know where we are and we must maintain it.

“It’s the start of what we want to achieve. I’m pleased with that point today.”

Tranmere claimed their first league win in seven with a 1-0 midweek success at Northampton, and boss Darrell Clarke could not hide his frustration at failing to add to that victory.

He said: “I was hoping we would get six points in a week from two away games but it’s not worked out.”

Clarke felt Crawley were “right up for it” following a change of manager but his men “should have ended up with more.”

He added: “I’m a frustrated man. The players put it all in, but we’ve got to be more flexible and take our opportunities when they come.

“Going in at 0-0 at half-time, the players looked a bit flat and I couldn’t seem to get to them.

“Then we started rubbish in the second half, gave away the goal and it looked difficult.

“To be fair they kept going, got back in the game and should have gone on from there.

“I can’t fault their work rate, but my reaction is that we should have got more.”