IAN Marshall is hoping to get the nod to carry on where he left off against Watford when Wanderers run out to face Crewe this afternoon.

The 34-year-old Mr Versatility came up trumps as a half time substitute seven days ago when he caused mayhem in the Hornets' defence before scoring the winner.

Now he is hoping his vital 45 minute contribution can earn him the chance to make his mark from the start for the tricky visit of Dario Gradi's men today.

"Everyone wants to start every game and I'm no different," he said. "But I had no complaints about being out of the starting line-up recently because I was injured for a couple of weeks and then when I was fit again Michael Ricketts was knocking in the goals.

"I knew I couldn't expect to come straight back into the team when things were going so well."

He got his chance because of the club's horrendous injury list which has seen every member of the first team squad already used before the season's midway point.

Allardyce was down to the bare bones last week, to such a degree that the boss asked Ricketts to play despite the top scorer suffering with migraine and a high temperature.

Marshall for Ricketts combined with a tactical master stroke of changing from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 formation with Ricardo Gardner and Gareth Farrelly switching to the right and left flanks and Bo Hansen brought inside to form a two-pronged strikeforce sparked a sensational second half performance which saw Wanderers overturn a one-goal deficit to defeat Watford and move level on points with Graham Taylor's hot tips for promotion.

Now he is hoping that his six-match absence from the starting line-up is over.