Preston North End’s Danish U21 striker Emil Riis is looking to get back on the scoresheet as the Lilywhites head to South Wales to face Swansea City on Easter Monday.
The PNE No.19 says that he enjoyed playing up front with Ched Evans against league leaders Norwich City and admits that he had a big chance to put his side in front, but now hopes to have the same opportunity at the Liberty Stadium.
“We really worked hard for [the point against the Canaries]; the boys worked hard – I had a big chance myself, that would have changed the game, where they scored straight after, I was gutted that I didn’t scored – but we stuck together and got the point and it was a really good point for us. We can look forward now.
“You can train all you want, but it is games that matter. We do it well, [Ched Evans is] a strong guy and really good at battling and I can run around him, so we work really well together.
“Everything apart from the finish worked really well, so we have to take that away and next time the finish will be there.”
Emil admits that the 95th-minute equaliser almost felt like the side had earned the win and that was illustrated by the celebrations: “I think it felt like a win,” he continued. “You have to remember it was only a point, but when you score in the last minute it is a great feeling, especially against the top of the league.
“It was nice to get a point and a bit of confidence, to take into Monday and Saturday, when we have big teams as well.
“Everyone came in the huddle and we celebrated together, so it showed that it was an important point and that we were happy with it.”
Steve Cooper’s Swans are another tough test, but the attacker says the team must look to build upon the Good Friday draw: “They are third at the moment, so it is going to be another tough game like it was against Norwich.
“We have shown now that we can do it and hopefully that can keep going and we can get all three points this time. We just have to keep going from where we left off in the Norwich game, we now need to crack on.”
And the last couple of weeks, under a new interim head coach, have been enjoyable for Emil and he says the attacking approach is something he is looking forward to being a part of.
“I started yesterday, so for me it has been a good thing. I have been happy and the result against Norwich shows that we have to stick together now and have to come together as a group – that has been the main focus and I think we have done really well.
“To win games you need to score goals; if you don’t score goals it is a big problem as you can’t win the game – we have to go forward and we might concede more, but we have to try and score goals in order to win the games,” he added.
For our trip to the Liberty Stadium, Jonathan Breeze and former PNE full back Rob Edwards will be on commentary duties on Easter Monday, brining you all the action exclusively from around 2.30pm. Click here now to sign up for an iFollow PNE match pass.