Palace fan and columnist for the Advertiser, Robert Sutherland, believes Damien Delaney has proved doubters wrong this season and nominates him to pick up the recognition he deserves in May...
PROMOTION to the Premier League brought with it a top trumps approach to player selection, and one player who many (myself included) didn't think would be capable of making the step up was Damien Delaney. How wrong we were.
Delaney played a crucial part in our promotion but the consensus was that he might be too slow, a little too tentative and possibly a little too error prone to establish himself in England's elite league. Wrong.
Discounting our first ten games, in which few of our squad really showed much quality, Delaney has been a colossus of defensive integrity.
Faced with the prospect of playing against the likes of Fernando Torres and Eden Hazard last weekend, Delaney stood resolute alongside Scott Dann, Adrian Mariappa and Joel Ward - putting in a performance that reduced Chelsea's six goals of the previous week to zero.
The Irish international has had a tumultuous few years, following a tough spell at Ipswich where he genuinely considered moving to the United States to kick-start a career that had become stagnant; his arrival at Palace was intended to give depth to a weak back line.
At the time of his signing, few would have thought he would play such a significant role in our Premier League season.
Delaney has proved one thing - a top trumps approach to team assessment fails to take the human element into account.
Delaney showed mental strength to help guide Palace to promotion, he's showing it in abundance this season too.
He's certainly a worthy candidate when the time comes to vote for your player of the season - and with more performances like last weekend's, perhaps he deserves to win it.
