A Labrador forced Liam Lawrence to be ruled out of Stoke City matches
There have been many bizarre injuries that have caused footballers to be ruled out of matches, but perhaps the strangest dog-related problem happened to Liam Lawrence.
Travelling back to October 2008, Lawrence was playing a starring role for Stoke City as they embarked upon their first Premier League season.
Tony Pulis’ men had been promoted from the Championship the season before but had experienced a challenging start to life in the top-flight.
The Potters had won just one of their opening six games leading up to a visit to Portsmouth at the start of October, but were hit by a bizarre injury blow on the Monday before the match.
Before heading to training, Lawrence somehow managed to trip over his dog and suffer ankle damage, which ruled him out of the match at Pompey.
Boss Pulis was left far from happy, though thankfully Lawrence did not suffer a break to his ankle.
"He has stepped over his dog on the stairs and his ankle just gave way and he went over on it," said Pulis at the time.
"The initial scan has shown no break but we have sent him back for another X-ray to make sure. We don't know how serious it is at the moment."
Lawrence would go to confirm that he would indeed miss the trip to Pompey and revealed how he came to be brought down by his Labrador.
"It was in the middle of the night, the dog lies on the stairs and I didn't see him,” the midfielder told BBC Radio Stoke.
"I trod on him, realised what I'd done, tried to go to the next step, gone over on my ankle and fallen down the stairs.
"The dog's fine. I could have killed him at the time, but he's intact. I've had a lot of stick, the lads have been ribbing me and I've heard a few things on the telly and on the radio.
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"When it doesn't happen on the pitch or on the training ground then it's more disappointing and I'm sure the gaffer won't be best pleased either."
Lawrence’s absence proved crucial at Fratton Park, with goals from Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch condemning the Potters to defeat.
The midfielder would also go on to miss the Republic of Ireland’s matches in the international break that followed their defeat to Pompey.
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