Delaney rallies troops ahead of crucial fixtures

Crystal Palace defender Damien Delaney has called on his side to pull together after a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City last weekend left them level on points with bottom-placed side Sunderland.

The Eagles have endured a difficult run of late, but Delaney insists there were enough positives to take from the loss in the Potteries, that confidence should rise before they play Middlesbrough next weekend.

Delaney said: “The performance we gave in the game at Stoke City has got to be the blueprint going forward.

“We have been working an awful lot on our shape and being defensively better and I think our display showed the work we had put in on the training ground since the last game.”

The Palace defender praised his centre-half partner Joel Tomkins for his steady performances at the back ahead of a crucial period of the season.

Palace play three of their next four league games at Selhurst Park and Delaney is adamant his side can pull clear of the relegation zone.

(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

“Both me and Tonks have played together on a number of occasions this season and I feel we have done quite well,” he added.

“Plus we also had Luka [Milivojevic] coming into midfield that helped the shape of the team as well, but as I say it’s important we now move on from here.

“This is going to go to the wire, so we need everyone to get behind us because we are certainly not dead and buried, we are not in a mission impossible situation.

“We have 13 games left and are only two points off getting out the bottom three places.

“As a group of players we need to stick together and move forward after the break with our game against Middlesbrough at Selhurst in a couple of weeks’ time.”