Preston striker Emil Riis didn’t get himself on the scoresheet against Barnsley, but one great piece of movement created the opening goal.
Ryan Lowe took charge of North End for the first time on Saturday, beating Barnsley 2-1 at Deepdale.
Alan Browne and Daniel Johnson were on the scoresheet in a superb win for Preston, kickstarting the Lowe era.
Striker Riis would have loved to mark the occasion with a goal, but he found goalscoring opportunities a little difficult to come by.
The Dane will hope to get off the mark under Lowe soon, and you can certainly see parallels to his former Plymouth striker Ryan Hardie in terms of their physical stature and turn of pace.
What really impressed with Riis on Saturday was his movement to create Preston’s opening goal.
The goal was beautiful in its construction. Daniel Iversen passed short to Patrick Bauer, who found Andrew Hughes taking up a very wide position as the left side centre back.
Hughes weighted the ball perfectly for Daniel Johnson to turn away from two Barnsley players, opening up the pitch.
Johnson drove forward, picked out Alan Browne and the Irishman did the rest with a great finish.
Browne had so much room, and that was down to a dummy run from Riis.
As Johnson was driving towards goal, Riis was peeling towards the right side of the box.
Riis glanced over his shoulder and saw Browne approaching the box. Riis darted across the front of Liam Kitching, dragging the Barnsley centre back with him.
That opened up the freedom of Deepdale for Browne, who was able to exploit the space and finish confidently.
Sometimes, it’s the things you do off the ball that make such as much of an impact as what you do on the ball.
That was the case with Riis, whose run to create Saturday’s opener will be greatly appreciated by Lowe.