'Stay level-headed' - John Marquis aiming to help Shrewsbury Town youngsters through tough period

Marquis netted his fifth goal in all competitions for Shrewsbury during their 3-1 defeat at Cheltenham on Boxing Day.

The 33-year-old has returned to being a regular starter over the past two months, finding the net in three of his last six games, as he aims to help Shrewsbury climb away from the League Two danger zone.

Speaking about his captaincy role, Marquis said: "It's a role that I'm enjoying and that I feel comes quite naturally to me. 

"I'm here to pass on experience to the players who haven't been in these positions before. It's helped this year having a few more experienced heads around as well to be able to help with that.

"Some of the young players have not experienced what it's like being in the lower part of the table when you're not winning regularly and trying to find form, trying to find confidence.

"Throughout my career I've been able to help some successful squads, some that are fighting to stay up, and some teams that just know where they are.

"I've been able to help in that sort of sense and make sure that it's all about the preparation and the process, rather than the result. If you prepare correctly, and the process of the game and how we're going to play is done correctly, the result should look after itself nine times out of 10. 

"There'll be times when you come out on the wrong side of the result where you should have won. But equally, there'll be times where you don't play well when you do win. 

"It's very process and performance driven, and about keeping the standards high, making sure that we don't get too high if we have won a few games, and we don't get too low if we go a couple of games with a few bad results. We've got to stay very level-headed."