Preston boss Ryan Lowe has confirmed that Emil Riis was left out of the starting lineup against Huddersfield Town because of a niggling injury.
North End hosted Huddersfield on Wednesday night in front of the Sky cameras, seeking another win to further burgeoning playoff hopes.
Preston were the better side throughout but just couldn’t find the all-important goal, playing out a 0-0 draw at Deepdale.
That result makes a top-six finish a little more difficult, but to even be talking about that now is a sign of the progress under Lowe.
Lowe went with Cameron Archer and Ched Evans up top against Huddersfield, again rotating his strikeforce having used different combinations of late.
We have seen Riis and Archer and Riis and Evans used regularly, but Riis was left on the bench against Huddersfield.
Archer had a couple of decent openings but Evans was fairly ineffectual, with Preston’s attacking play looking a little better with Riis on the pitch.
Some wondered whether leaving Riis out was really the right decision, even with Riis taking on a huge workload this season.
Now though, boss Lowe has admitted that Riis is actually carrying an injury and wasn’t able to train on Tuesday.
Riis was only fit enough for play off the bench, with Lowe adding that North End must now check up on how the ‘fantastic’ striker is for this weekend’s game at Peterborough United.
North End managed to keep any Riis injury quiet, and he didn’t look to be struggling in what was a quality cameo.
Let’s hope Riis has no adverse reaction to playing on Wednesday night, and is fit enough to play in Saturday’s latest away trip.