'Real desire' What Ryan Lowe said straight after Preston North End's 0-2 win at Cardiff City

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe left Cardiff City a proud manager after his side's 0-2 win on the road.

The contest was drab in the opening exchanges, but the Lilywhites landed the first blow on the half hour mark - when Emil Riis found space down the left, drove inside and rifled his shot into the bottom left corner.

After the Dane's first goal since October 2022, North End were in the ascendency and the second goal was tucked away 10 minutes later. Mads Frokjaer provided his second assist of the half, as Ben Whiteman latched on to his cut-back and finished clinically. Those goals proved enough for PNE to take all three points back to Lancashire and Lowe was more than satisfied post-match.

"Fantastic," said Lowe. "I think we gave the ball away for the first 15 minutes and we wanted to get control of it. Once we got control of the game I thought we were fantastic - two good goals. The second half performance was excellent. The lads went out with that real desire of 'okay, if we score another one that is fine, but as long as we don't concede and put the pressure on us'. I thought the resilience they showed to keep the back door shut - and for Fred and the defenders to get a clean sheet - was excellent.

"We have all been waiting for Emil to come back. He looks stronger, physically and I am pleased with his goal - for him and his team mates. We know, if we can get the ball into those areas, we've got good strikers who can score goals. The build up to it was fantastic and the way he has taken it, so really pleased for everyone. And then Whitey... some great play by Mads and Pottsy down the right and we work on those patterns of play throughout the week, of how we can get in. There were some great punch passes into Mads, to get him on the half turn and playing forward.

"We asked them to have a calmness about them at half time, because we knew they would throw a lot at us. We were comfortable. Sometimes it can disrupt the shape when they've got players coming out of pockets and feeding balls. They put the big lad on didn't they? They tried to go long and I think it can sometimes play into our hands, that way. We are solid and resolute; we will kick and head everything and block shots and crosses. I thought the lads withstood it fantastically. Credit to the boys, they have been excellent and we just want to keep it going. They went on, followed the game plan in the second half and came away with three points."