Having scored 18 goals in all competitions, Emil Riis admits things have “turned out great” for him this season.
The Danish forward joined the club in October 2020, and went on to net three goals in league and cup action, but this term it’s been a different story.
Opening his account just eight minutes into the first game of the campaign, he has gone on to score 18 in total, with the most recent of those coming in the Gentry Day victory over Barnsley.
Emil told iFollow PNE: “It’s been a long season. Unfortunately there’s nothing to play for in the end, but it’s been a long season.
“It’s been a good one personally for me and I’m just looking forward to the last game.
“I was not in the best mood after last season, and then I just decided in the summer I was going to come back and do my best and try everything I could, and it’s turned out great.
“I think from the first game when I scored after the first couple of minutes, it’s been enjoyable to play and to score goals.
“That’s why I’m here and that kind of set the mood for the season.”
The campaign will come to a close on Saturday, when North End face Middlesbrough at Deepdale for a 12.30pm kick-off.
Boro come to Lancashire still in with a shout of finishing in the Play-Off places, but Emil’s focus is on getting a positive result to send the team and the fans into the summer break with back-to-back wins.
“They’ve been great the whole season so it’ll be nice to send them home with a win and tell them to have a good summer,” Emil added.
“You always want to go into your holiday with a win, so it’ll be nice to go away from here after winning the last game.
“It’s the last home game as well so to finish on a good note will be very good.”
PNE go into the weekend's fixture sat 14th in the Championship, still within a shout of finishing in the top half of the table.
Both the manager and players have admitted that consistency has held them back this term, something which Emil hopes to find more of next season.
“Obviously we’ve been a little bit up and down,” Emil admitted. “We’ve won a couple of games in a row and then lost a couple of games in a row, so I think going forward if we can put some more games together and win more games in a row then it’ll take us higher up in the table.
“Obviously we have a few players who are going to go back to their parent clubs and we’re going to see who comes in the door.
“We’ve got the potential to be a better team so we’ll have to see. For the gaffer as well, he needs to have pre-season to work on some things so that we can have a better year next year definitely.”
You can watch Emil's full interview on iFollow PNE above.