Cardiff want to ‘annihilate’ League One – Lawlor

Defender Dylan Lawlor says Cardiff City’s players want to “annihilate” League One following their unbeaten start to the season.

The Bluebirds sit top of the table after winning five out of their six league games so far with Wales international Lawlor, 19, starting all of those games under head coach Brian Barry-Murphy.

“You’ve always got to have the belief that you can make a start like we [Cardiff] have and I think that stems from the manager and the coaching staff but also the players around you,” Lawlor said.

“We’ve got the belief that we can go get promoted again and go and absolutely batter the league.

“I think that’s the change of mindset that Brian has brought in is a belief like ‘why can’t we just go and annihilate the league and go and get promoted?’, because why not?

Cardiff return to action on Saturday after the international break with a trip to Stockport County (15:00 BST), who sit ninth in the League One table.

Lawlor has been enjoying widespread praise after his international debut in Astana, with Wales boss Craig Bellamy saying that he was “beyond impressed” by his performance.

The Caerphilly-born player also produced a man-of-the-match debut for Wales in the 1-0 World Cup qualifying win in Kazakhstan to cap a memorable month for both club and country.

“You just want to be playing senior football and then to do that with the club you’ve supported all your life and your own country is what dreams are made of, it’s incredible,” Lawlor said.

The centre-back has even been linked with other clubs such as Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur, but wants to remain grounded.

“I’d like to think I’m quite modest, you prefer people saying nice things than not, so I’m enjoying it,” added Lawlor.

“It’s nice to have a good network around you, but my family will have slight digs at me which I enjoy and it keeps you humble.

Lawlor is one of 11 academy graduates who have featured for Cardiff this season, something that has made the step up to senior football a smooth one for the defender.

“It’s class. You don’t really see it in any other clubs. You might see one or two coming through at the same time but to have eight or nine academy graduates, it’s been incredible and it’s easy to then go on the pitch,” Lawlor said.

“I’m playing on the right side and next to me I’ve got Ronan [Kpakio] and then I’ve got Joel [Colwilll] in midfield and Cian [Ashford] on the right wing, it just gives you that confidence in the game.

“We are close-knit because we’ve played with each other for years so we’re really familiar with each other, but I think that the whole squad is really close-knit at the minute, it’s really positive.

“There’s plenty of opportunity for youngsters. I think that’s probably the biggest thing, that there hasn’t been in the past, is the opportunity and he’s [Barry-Murphy] come in and he’s given everyone an opportunity.