Preston North End's long wait for a three-goal Championship away haul ends at Barnsley

With a stroke of his right boot at Oakwell, Emil Riis propelled Preston North End into territory they had not been in for almost 17 months.
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Riis made it 3-1 to PNE against Barnsley on Gentry Day, his 74th minute goal seeing them score three goals in a Championship away game for the first time since December 2020.

The Dane latched on to Sepp van den Berg’s through ball, took it into the box, went round Tykes goalkeeper Jack Walton, before rolling a shot from a tight angle into the net.

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North End last scored three on the road in the league at Bournemouth on December 1, 2020, the night Scott Sinclair found the net with a 40-yard shot to win last season’s goal of the season award.

Preston North End striker Emil Riis scores against Barnsley at OakwellPreston North End striker Emil Riis scores against Barnsley at Oakwell
Preston North End striker Emil Riis scores against Barnsley at Oakwell

To give the timeframe some context, England came out of its second national lockdown a few hours after PNE’s 3-2 win on the south coast and moved into the tier system.

Since then, the Lilywhites have relied on ones and twos for away league victories, although they did score four in the Carabao Cup at Morecambe last August and three in the round before against Mansfield.

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North End manager Ryan Lowe felt his side should have scored more against Barnsley, Riis’ goal adding to Daniel Johnson’s double.

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Lowe said: “You won’t always score three away from home but when someone is down and out – with all due respect to Barnsley – you smell blood and have to keep going.

"That is what I want from my team. I was disappointed actually that we didn’t get four or five because we created the chances.

"But in general if we score three goals in an away game, I’ve got to be happy. We’ve got the strike power to score goals."

Riis’ goal at Barnsley was his 19th of the season – 15 in the league and four in the Carabao Cup – although some statistic sites still only credit him with 18.

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The contentious one came against Queens Park Rangers last month, the opener given as a Jimmy Dunne own goal rather than to Riis.

However, the referee’s report and that submitted by PNE had Riis down as the scorer, with him certainly getting a touch.

It’s hard to see how much of a touch, if any, Dunne then got and whether it drastically altered the path of the ball.

So Riis will be all out to get his 20th goal of the campaign in the season’s finale against Middlesbrough at Deepdale on Saturday lunchtime.