Emil Riis makes Preston North End admission after 'great feeling' at Cardiff City

It was a feeling Preston North End striker Emil Riis had been longing for. A total of 469 days on from his last Championship goal, the Dane was back on the score sheet - in trademark fashion too. After a dour first half-hour in South Wales, PNE's number 19 fired his team ahead at Cardiff City and sent the Lilywhites on their way to a hard fought 2-0 away win.

"Yeah, it was great," said Riis. "I was a bit annoyed last week when I knew the defender came and got a touch on it. To finally get my first goal is a great feeling - something I have been dreaming of for a while now. It was a long year, last year. It's a lot of hard work in the gym; you are seeing the lads train and play and you're not a part of it. It was tough, but it's all worth it when you come back and get the goal. I have always played football. It's everything I know and I'd never had an injury like it before, so you almost become a different person.

"And yeah, it's a lot of hard work, but you have to set new targets and goals every week - even though you are injured. I got through it in the end. I would like to think I've come in with a lot of energy and we've been playing well in the last few games. I give it 100 per cent and play as many minutes as I can. I cramped up in the end, which is why I came off. But, I am obviously playing more and more minutes now and I've got to be careful as well."

On the win at Cardiff, Riis added: "I would say the first half-an-hour, probably up until my goal, we did not play well... very bad. But, we didn't let them score and we were clinical when we got up there - so I think we deserved the points. We could've scored even more goals in the second half, but I'm just happy with the win. We don't want to just be a mid-table team. We want to kick on and have something to play for on the last day."