Homework pays off for Ian Lawlor in FA Cup

Republic of Ireland Under-21 international Ian Lawlor has made it clear that his penalty shoot-out contribution to Bury's FA Cup success on Tuesday night had not simply been about guesswork with the Dubliner insisting that he had done his homework about the Bradford players he was going to be facing.

Lawlor, who was playing just his third game for the League One outfit since arriving on loan from Manchester City, saved spot kicks from Steve Davies and Devante Cole, both of which were heading for the bottom right corner, but he dismissed the idea that he had just got lucky.

“I’d studied all of the players that I was playing against so I had a fair idea of where everyone was going to go from last week,” he said after the game. “I just went over the clips (beforehand and) I had a fair idea where the last penalties they had all taken had gone. So, it’s a bit of luck but I’ve done a lot of work too.”

Lawlor, from Dublin’s northside, where he originally played for Home Farm, has featured in City’s first team squad on various occasions but only got a taste of competitive first team football recently when he had a five game emergency loan spell at Barnet, in League Two.

He has now joined Bury until the end of the season and having kept clean sheets in the original cup tie then the replay, during which he made a particularly fine stop from James Meredith late on, even before he chipped in with the penalty saves that helped earn a fourth round clash against Hull City at the end of the month, he has made a positive early impression at his new club. His other game so far for the club was a 2-3 home defeat by Walsall.

“After Barnet I knew Bury was going to be a massive step up and in my first game I was a bit nervous, I think I showed that in the first half an hour or whatever it was but the more I play the more I’ll relax into it and settle into the games. Hopefully I’ve shown what I can do and now I kick on and get a couple more games under my belt.”