Grimsby Town new boy set to make his Marc for the mighty Mariners

PAUL Hurst wants Grimsby Town's new loan signing to get Mariners fans "on their feet" – starting against Tamworth tomorrow (3pm).

Marcus Marshall trained with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday after completing a one-month deal.

And with fellow on-loan winger Scott Neilson suspended for the next three matches, the 23-year-old goes straight into the Town squad for the clash in Staffordshire.

Having started his career at Blackburn, Marshall made his debut as a substitute against the Mariners in a 4-1 League Cup success in 2008.

That turned out to be his sole first-team appearance for Rovers before moving to Rotherham where he first appeared on Hurst's radar.

A loan spell with Macclesfield Town followed earlier this year before a summer switch to Bury.

Now, Hurst and joint boss Rob Scott are determined to help the pacey winger to finally fulfil his potential.

"Marcus is someone we've courted for a while," Hurst explained. "We know him quite well from Rotherham and know what he can give us.

"He's got out-and-out pace, he can take a man on and at one time there was talk of him going a lot higher in the game.

"After he dropped down to Rotherham he had a really good spell and the talk was that there were a lot of people watching him.

"It hasn't quite worked out for him since for whatever reason – we want to help him get back to that sort of form and if he does he will be a real asset to us.

"Marcus will certainly be in the squad for tomorrow and we'll decide if he goes straight into the team."

Although the Town bosses were keeping tabs on Marshall's progress at Gigg Lane, it was Neilson's red card against Macclesfield last weekend that prompted them to act.

"Marcus is different to Scott in terms of how he will look to beat a man," Hurst said.

"He's athletic, a good build, he's quick and he likes to take players on.

"He's predominantly right-footed, but nowadays there seems to be a lack of naturally left-sided players and it's not unusual to have two right-footers on the wings.

"He fits into what we like in a player – he's one of those that on his day will get fans on their feet.

"We've got to make sure he approaches it like that and plays with confidence.

"I think he's a bit of a confidence player and we'll do everything we can to make him feel at home and give him that platform to go out and perform."

On the chances of extending the loan deal, he added: "It's just for a month. I'm not too sure what Bury's outlook on it is, but they've had a new manager come in and he wants to change things around.

"Whether that's just in the short-term or longer we'll see, but initially it's a case of him coming in and getting some games."

Following Neilson's, right, arrival for a three-month stay, from Crawley, the Mariners have started exclusively with two wingers, with Joe Colbeck providing width on the opposite side of the pitch.

Town's form since then has convinced the bosses that it is the best way forward.

Hurst continued: "We were always toying with the idea of 'can we play with two out-and-out wingers and still remain pretty solid?'

"The last couple of results haven't gone our way, but in general the proof has been that we can play that system.

"We've had more of an attacking impetus to us as a team. That's not putting anyone down, but we just feel it gives us more threat going forward.

"Having two wide-men that are first and foremost wingers, rather than midfielders playing out wide, provides us with much more attacking options.

"We like that about the team and realistically we haven't got that at the club – if we hadn't brought someone in we would have had to set up differently.

"We wanted to try to make a move and thankfully that came off."