He made his debut for Palace on 25 August 2012 in a 2–1 defeat to Middlesbrough. After initially featuring in the first team, he was dropped from the side and did not make an appearance for Palace after December 2012. Wales manager Chris Coleman publicly criticised Blake's fitness levels after revealing that he had been deemed too unfit for Palace's reserve side and stated "Darcy has got to be fitter. He has lost his fitness and there is no easy way around it."