Did Crystal Palace star Damien Delaney nod off in the final minutes of one of the most epic Premier League games of all time against Swansea?

IF you thought Crystal Palace’s staggering 5-4 defeat at Swansea could not get any more extraordinary – you were wrong.

Pictures have emerged from footage of the Eagles’ last-gasp defeat in South Wales of Damien Delaney apparently ASLEEP on the bench.

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The scores were 4-4 at the time – so in the few minutes between Fernando Llorente scoring Swansea’s fourth and the eventual winner for a staggering 5-4 victory.

BBC Sport

Pictures from Match of the Day showed dozing Delaney had apparently NODDED OFF in the visitor’s dugout, sat next to third-choice goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

The Irishman, 35, might be entering the twilight years of his journeyman career – but you’d have thought he would have his eye on the ball.

But as these pictures show, he clearly had not got his eyes on the game.

Some fans even pointed out the bizarre incident on Twitter.

One said: “How in a 5-4 thriller an Damien Delaney be askeep… #cpfc #snoozefest.”

Another quipped: “So the Palace defence was asleep for the whole game in 4-5 defeat. Even Damien Delaney re[s]erve defender was asleep and he was on the bench!”

Action Images via Reuters

BBC Sport

BBC Sport

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Palace agonisingly lost the thriller in South Wales, with Swansea blowing a 3-1 lead with the Eagles surging ahead 4-3 with five minutes to go.

World Cup winner Llorente then cam on board and caused chaos in the Palace defence to score an equaliser and a winner.

These latest snaps will not go down well with under-pressure Eagles boss Pardew, whose defence was most certainly in the land of nod when Swansea ghosted to turn a dream into a nightmare.

In fact, both sides defences were given serious stick for their defensive work, with even Swans gaffer Bob Bradley admitting he gave his players an earful before a deserved pat on the back for their win.