Marshall happy to have 'new beginning' at Cobblers after being 'frozen out' under Curle

Cobblers winger Mark Marshall is relishing the 'new beginning' given to him by interim boss Jon Brady after he was 'frozen out' under previous manager Keith Curle.

The 33-year-old was barely even a bench player towards the end of Curle's reign and made just one start across all competitions in the two months before Brady took over.

Curle regularly played without wingers so could find no place for Marshall, however Brady has opted for a variation of 4-3-3 in his two games in charge with the former Charlton and Bradford man starting on the right-wing in both.

“I’ve been in football a long time and it happens at times,” said Marshall, who is a player Brady 'loves to bits'.

“Sometimes the manager might be playing a certain style of football that does’t suit you and that was the case for me really.

“There are no hard feelings with the previous manager. I think it was a situation where he felt I didn’t suit his style of play but that was it – now we move on.

“It’s a new beginning for everyone and I’ll just take things as it comes under the current gaffer.”

Marshall played the full 90 against Burton and lasted 70 minutes at Ipswich and was involved in many of Town's best moments.

He added: “Personally, for me, it’s been good under the new manager so far because before I was frozen before and this is the style of play we want to play to be honest.

“We want to be a passing team and not only passing for the sake of it but passing with purpose.

“We have little patterns that we’re going through and it’s just about building that understanding and once that comes and improves, I think the goals will come.

“We just need to keep working at it and keep getting better.”

But despite a bright performance from Marshall and others, Cobblers remained unable to locate the back of the net at Portman Road.

Town, surprisingly, dominated the first-half against Ipswich and could easily have gone into half-time two or three goals to the good with Jack Sowerby and Sam Hoskins both missing good chances and Peter Kioso smacking the woodwork.

But the interval marked 500 minutes without a goal and that number grew by another 45 after an uneventful second-half.

Instinctively, you would describe this as a point gained but whilst it did lift Cobblers a couple of places to 21st in Sky Bet League One, only wins will get them out of trouble.

“To come away at Ipswich and get a point is really good for us,” Marshall added.

“At the start of the season they were tipped for promotion and although neither team was in great form, I think most people would have expected Ipswich to win.

“But we’ve come here and we showed good character and ultimately we feel disappointed we’re only going away with a point because I felt we were the better team overall.

“But we can take positives into the weekend.”