MARQUIS WANTS A CHANCE AT LIONS

THE last weekend of the season could not have worked out much better for John Marquis.

While the 21-year-old was firing in Northampton’s opener to seal their remarkable escape from the drop in League Two, his parent club Millwall were doing exactly the same in the Championship.

The front-man joined the Cobblers on loan back in February and while the goals did not flow initially, he found his range when it counted with crucial strikes against Burton and Oxford at the back end of the season.

Chris Wilder’s remarkable transformation of Northampton, who were in the relegation zone from September until their penultimate game of the campaign, has been one of the great Houdini acts in a thrilling League Two season.

And with Ian Holloway also working his magic at the Den, Marquis can return home with his head held high.

“Obviously to play a part in keeping Northampton up is a good feeling, they were a long way adrift earlier on in the season so to stay in the division is a huge achievement,” he said.

“Saturday was a good day in that sense because I was also checking the scores to see if Millwall had managed to stay up and to have both your loan and your parent club do it was fantastic.

“Chris came in at Northampton and has done a fantastic job.

“He brought in a few new faces including myself, the chairman gave him some money to bring in players and he shaped the team very quickly.

“He brought us together and to be quite honest he was worked wonders for Northampton.

“Obviously it was frustrating to see the position that Millwall were in but to not be able to do something about it.

“But the players they had at the club dug in, got some good results and I’m delighted they managed to stay in the Championship.”

Backing

It was not all good news for Marquis after what has been a stop-start campaign for the front man with loan spells at Portsmouth and Torquay also to his name during the season.

The Gulls failed to avoid the drop and Marquis was quick to admit that with an extra year on his deal at Millwall for next season, he is desperate to be a Championship striker rather than a League Two journeyman.

“I back myself as a Championship goalscorer,” he added.

“If I can get a good run of games I fancy myself to score goals at that level.

“The manager thought I was not ready this year but I want to make my name at Millwall.

“For a number of reasons it has been very stop start with injuries in particular so I have to stay fit first and then try and kick on.”