The ups and downs of lively Lawrence

IT was hardly what you would call ideal matchday preparation.

Liam Lawrence has revealed it was only during the hours leading up to Tuesday’s victory over Andorra that he learned, by chance, of an apparent setback in his move from Stoke City to Portsmouth.

Lawrence was having lunch at the Irish team hotel in Portmarnock when, inadvertently, Robbie Keane broke the news – which he’d seen on the television – that the deal had broken down.