Emil Riis has a hand in all three goals as Preston ease to victory at Coventry

By Sports Desk February 23, 2024

Emil Riis had a hand in all three goals as Preston stunned Coventry 3-0 at the CBS Arena.

The Danish striker put Preston ahead inside the first minute before setting up top scorer Will Keane and then forcing Bobby Thomas to put through his own net.

The remarkable victory took Preston on to the cusp of the play-off places, two points behind Hull, as North End leapfrogged Coventry in the process.

Preston captain Alan Browne played his corner to Ben Whiteman inside the first 60 seconds, and the cross was met by Riis.

The target man outmuscled Thomas and thundered home a header to claim his fourth in four outings after failing to find the net this season until 13 days ago.

When the 25-year-old then saw a shot blocked by Thomas he took full advantage of the dawdling Jay Dasilva and stole in to tee up Keane, who reacted fastest to sweep home his 12th of the season in the 20th minute.

The Sky Blues had failed to beat Preston in their last 20 league meetings dating back to 2007, and things went from bad to worse when star winger Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was taken off on a stretcher after a heavy fall following a challenge by Andrew Hughes on the half-hour mark.

The Japan international had been one of two Coventry changes as he and Milan van Ewijk replaced Fabio Tavares and Victor Torp in the starting XI, while Ali McCann came in for Robbie Brady in a rare Preston change.

Coventry had only lost once at home since a 4-0 thrashing by Stoke last April and things looked to be heading that way once again when Thomas poked Riis’ cross past a helpless Ben Wilson.

Freddie Woodman produced a magnificent save to deny Callum O’Hare as Coventry looked to get back into the game shortly before the break, with Preston defenders coming rushing out to block Haji Wright’s follow-up.

In-form Ellis Simms was looking to make it three goals in three games but he was also denied by Woodman after a tame effort inside the box.

Mark Robins called on Jake Bidwell to replace Dasilva at the break and Van Ewijk was next to try and reduce the arrears, but Woodman stood firm to beat away his left-footed effort.

The Dutchman tested Woodman again when he almost squeezed a cross in at the near post, while substitute Torp stung the palms of the former Newcastle goalkeeper in injury time.

Related items

  • Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory

    Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.

    Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.

    The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.

    Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.

    Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.

    Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.

    Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign. 

    Data Debrief: Total dominance

    Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.

    Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.

    Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10. 

  • Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout

    Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.

    Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.

    Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.

    Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.

    While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.

    Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.

    Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.

    Data Debrief: Clinically done

    For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.

    Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).

    Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.

  • Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final

    Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.

    The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.

    The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.

    Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.

    In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.

    With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.

    Data Debrief: Hitting the mark

    Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.

    But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.

    Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.