Ryan Lowe has hailed Preston North End striker Emil Riis after putting in a ‘phenomenal’ workload in the 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
North End were looking to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night after defeats to Bristol City and Stoke City.
A trip to Huddersfield Town gave PNE a chance to get back on track, especially having beaten the Terriers 4-1 in the Carabao Cup earlier this season.
This was a different game but PNE still ran out victorious.
Greg Cunningham bagged the only goal of the game, heading home Ben Whiteman’s corner in front of the travelling North End supporters.
Lowe would have no doubt loved for a second to really kill the game off but it just didn’t come.
Emil Riis did set up a great chance, dinking a crossing into the back post for Alvaro Fernandez with the goal at mercy.
Fernandez fired his shot into the ground and over the bar, meaning North End had to see out that 1-0 lead late in the game.
This may look like a frustrating game for Riis, who only had one shot on goal and 21 touches of the ball – the lowest of any outfield player for PNE.
However, worked hard in the Preston attack as he worked as a lone striker with Ben Woodburn and Ali McCann behind him.
Riis has now received huge praise from boss Lowe as he told BBC Radio Lancashire that Riis was ‘fantastic’ off the ball against Huddersfield.
Lowe praised the defenders for the clean sheet in West Yorkshire but also felt that Riis effectively led from the front with his ‘phenomenal’ work rate.
Lowe even feels that some won’t recognise the job Riis did for the team but the Preston staff have been trying to get more out of the Dane off the ball and Lowe was delighted to see it pay off on Tuesday.
“The defenders have been brilliant, but it starts from the front and we defend as a team,” said Lowe. “I thought Emil Riis was fantastic tonight. People won’t look at his work rate or what he done, because he never scored or he didn’t have many shots, but his work rate off the ball, which we’ve been asking him to do, was phenomenal and he deserves a lot of credit for it. People won’t look at that, people will just look at that we won one-nil and that’s it, but we look at it more in-depth than that,” he added.