DAMIEN Delaney has admitted he's never been worried about Crystal Palace's start to the season and believes sticking to their gameplan is finally getting its rewards.
The centre-back kept a second clean sheet in a row last weekend at former club Hull City following the goalless draw with Everton, and with Tony Pulis arriving in the manager's hotseat, Delaney thinks the Eagles can achieve survival.
He said: "I think we have played similar against Hull in other games. We spoke about it in terms of set-pieces undoing us – 12 goals have gone in against us in that fashion.
"At this level, if you go behind, it's very, very difficult to get back into games. Especially with the starts we've had, going to Liverpool and Manchester United.
"We always wanted to remain true to what we wanted to do and if we stayed a little bit more disciplined and more compact, we knew we'd get goals.
"Hopefully with the new manager coming in now we can get a bit more organised. We have been brilliant of late but I think we can get to the 40-point mark we're all looking for.
"I think we probably deserved that bit of luck with ways things have been of late.
"We knew we weren't a million miles away, despite what people may have said.
"In terms of performance, we were competing but undone at this level by four penalties, four free-kicks, two corners, and all of a sudden you're behind in games.
"West Brom away from home gave us a lot of hope, and the game against Everton. Against Hull, we defended a lot better from set-pieces."
And the Irishman has hailed the impact of caretaker boss Keith Millen and first team coach Ben Garner, thanking them for being "brilliant".
"Keith has done a tremendous job," said Delaney. "I think that's important to state and I want to go on record in saying that.
"Keith and Ben (Garner) have been absolutely superb. It was a big pressure situation for Keith to come into a Premier League job and I think he's handled it unbelievably well.
"He's done a really, really good job organising us. Training has been absolutely fantastic. Keith and Ben have done brilliant."
