LIAM Lawrence has revealed how a team dinner with his Republic of Ireland team-mates turned sour when he realised his move to Portsmouth could be off.

The 28-year-old midfielder was looking forward to making his debut for the struggling Championship club this weekend after leaving Stoke on transfer deadline day last week.

It came to light yesterday that the deal was in doubt because Pompey failed to submit the required documentation to the Football League in time.

But Lawrence knew nothing about the hitch until alerted by his international skipper, Robbie Keane.

Lawrence said: "Robbie came in at dinner and said, 'Have you seen the telly?'. I said, 'No, why? What's gone on now?'. He said, 'You'd better ring your agent, then'.

"I spoke to my agent and asked what was going on, and he said the deal had not gone through properly.

"Apparently they reckon it was a few minutes late or some rubbish, but we had four minutes to go when we sent the fax off, so I don't know what the big deal is."

Lawrence's comments came after he had played his part in the Republic's 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifier victory over Andorra in Dublin on Tuesday while Stoke and Pompey were working to sort out the problem. He is keeping his fingers crossed they can reach a fresh agreement which would see him join Pompey on an emergency loan deal today with a view to making the move permanent in January.

Lawrence said: "I don't know whether it will be one of those loans with a view to a permanent transfer. We will just have to wait and see what happens when I get back.

"To be fair, because it took me so long to decide and to sort the deal out – it was a big decision for me, moving down there – I had left it quite late to sign.

"But there was still plenty of time and we got the fax sent off OK, so I don't know what has happened after that."

Lawrence remains a key figure for Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni, despite featuring little for Stoke last season, and started in the Republic's victories over Armenia on Friday and Andorra.

Those wins have left the Republic top of Group B on goal difference and three points better off than favourites Russia, who will look to bounce back from their 1-0 home defeat by Slovakia on Tuesday when they head to Dublin next month.

Lawrence said: "They are under a little bit of pressure now. They have got to come here and get something.

"I'm sure they will come out all guns blazing, so we will just have to make sure we play our normal game, like we do against the big teams, and see if we can get something."