Where Are They Now?                                   Profiles of ex-Luton players

Dwight Marshall

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Height: 5ft, 07in. Weight: 10st, 10lb. Born: Jamaica, 03.10.1965. Nationality: English. International Honours: None.

Dwight moved from his home country of Jamaica at a young age across to England where he started to get interested in football. After playing in the local leagues, Dwight was a late comer to football when he signed for his local semi-professional team, Grays Athletic, at the age of 25.

Noted for his ability to take on opponents and, of course, his scoring record with Grays, a number of league scouts watched with great interest. It was Plymouth Argyle who took what perhaps was seen as a gamble at the time for a player with relatively no experience, but at 25 was already at his peak. Grays let him go to Home Park for a record £35,000 in the summer of 1991.

Marshall's time at Home Park made him a fans' favourite, notching 36 goals in 124 games for Argyle. His strong points were his devasting pace and cool finishing and his form at Argyle was attracting the scouts of Premiership and Division One clubs as Dwight shot to the top of the goal scoring charts. Dwight had a brief spell on-loan to Middlesbrough in 1993 as he failed to hold down a first-team place, playing three times for Boro without scoring, but an injury crisis led to his return to Home Park and a return to form saw him back in the team and back amongst the goals.

Dwight's goals had helped Plymouth into the Second Division and although a big asset, Argyle accepted a £150,000 bid from Luton Town in the summer of 1994 for Dwight's services.

Town boss David Pleat had singled out his pace and finishing as Dwight's strong points and Dwight didn't turn down the opportunity of joining a bigger club nearer his family. The Town were in the First Division at the time and the move was an ideal opportunity to further his career.

Marshall made his Luton debut on the opening day of the 1994-95 season, coming on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw with West Brom at Kenilworth Road, and a week later he made his full debut in  excellent 0-0 draw away at Derby.

Dwight's first Luton goal came in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage against Fulham in the Second Leg of a First Round tie of the League Cup, the Hatters eventually losing 4-3 on penalties the same night.

Dwight in action for the Hatters.

His first league goal for the Hatters also came away, his strike was the only goal in a 1-0 win at Port Vale, the start of an excellent season for both Marshall and the Hatters, especially away.

As the Town mounted a promotion push, Marshall was at the front leading the way with his goals. His second goal for the club was in a  2-1 win at Stoke and he netted two more in a 5-1 thumping of Champions-elect Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road.

Big spending Wolves were rolled over at Molineux, the Town taking a 3-0 lead, Dwight scoring one of the goals in an eventual 3-2 win.

Making the number 11 shirt his own, Dwight missed just one game that season, a 2-1 away win at Swindon. But Dwight scored a further seven goals after Christmas. Scoring twice at home to Oldham and the return match at home to Swindon and further goals at home to Millwall and away at Burnley and the FA Cup replay Bristol Rovers.

Dwight fires in an effort for Luton v Wigan.

Dwight's form had alerted the attentions of some of the bigger clubs, as the Hatters finished the season mid-table, with Marshall netting 13 goals and finishing as the clubs leading scorer.

The following season was a disaster for both Marshall and the Hatters. Dwight opened his account after only 30 seconds against Derby at Kenilworth Road, but Luton went on to lose 1-2. He opened to scoring at Reading, but the Town went on to lose 3-1, but he scored his third of the season in a 3-1 win over Portsmouth at Kenilworth Road - the Town's first win under rookie boss Terry Westley.

Two goals in a home win over Tranmere were followed by another goal in a 3-2 home defeat by Wolves, as the Town slipped to the bottom of Division One. Terry Westley left after a 4-0 thumping at Portsmouth and Lennie Lawrence was appointed manager. In Lawrence's first game in charge, Dwight scored the opening goal in a 2-2 home draw with Huddersfield.

Dwight scored the winner in a 3-2 win over Grimsby as the Town began to put some wins together and at one point the Hatters climbed out of the relegation places. However, after scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Derby, in the next game, at Sunderland, Dwight broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season. This was to be the turning point in Luton's relegation battle as from then on the Hatters struggled without his goals and eventually were relegated to the Second Division. Despite breaking his leg and missing the last two months of the season, he still managed to score 13 League and Cup goals in 32 matches.

Recovering from injury, Dwight returned to the Town side in January, making an appearance as a second-half substitute in a 3-2 defeat at Preston. His return to the first XI saw him score the opening goal in a 2-1 win at home against Bristol Rovers, and he followed that up with two more in the next two games at Bournemouth and at home to York. He scored twice to see off non-league Boreham Wood in the FA Cup and scored two more with goals against Shrewsbury and at Bolton in the FA Cup. Dwight, though, was frozen out towards the end of the season as Lennie Lawrence started with Tony Thorpe and David Oldfield and picked youngster Andrew Fotiadis ahead of him on the bench. Dwight finished the season with 7 goals in 32 League and Cup appearances as the Hatters finished third and missed out on promotion in the play-offs, losing to Crewe.

In a disappointing following season, Dwight made 31 League and Cup appearances, although 10 of those were coming off the bench as a substitute. The Town struggled and the loan signing of Rory Allen from Tottenham saved them from relegation. Dwight scored three goals, the opening goal in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth and two more also away in a 2-2 draw at Brentford and a 3-2 win at Walsall.

At the beginning of the 1998-1999 season, Dwight signing a new three-month contract but was frozen out of the team. He made 7 appearances in the opening month of the season and scored in a 1-1 home draw with Preston. Dwight's last game for the Hatters was in a topsy-turvy encounter with Ipswich in which the Hatters won 4-2 in the League Cup over 2 Legs.

His former side Plymouth were keen to snap-up the services of one of their former players and he signed on a free transfer in late September 1998. The season he had with Argyle was another good one, scoring 12 goals in 31 games.

However, his spell at Home Park was short lived and the following season he decided to quit professional football, returned back to London and played for non-league Kingstonian.

Dwight re-appeared at Kenilworth Road in the 1999-00 season playing for the K's against the Hatters in the First Round of the FA Cup, a match which the Hatters won 4-2 after going 0-1 and 1-2 down. Marshall was given a standing ovation and the crowd sang "There's only one Dwight Marshall...". Dwight didn't score against the Town, but scored twice in 13 appearances that season, before moving to Ryman League outfit Slough Town.

After spending three years in and out of the team at Slough, at the start of the 2001-02 season, Dwight joined Ryman League Division 1 side Aylesbury United. Dwight was, at the time of writing this article, in the team and scored a hat-trick in Aylesbury's 5-0 win over Yeading in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup - Aylesbury then went to Second Division Port Vale in Round 1 and lost 1-0, Dwight hitting the post with the score at 0-0.

Dwight's career was a great one and he was a true, honest professional. He was the Hatters and Plymouth's leading scorer when he played for them in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and, despite a broken leg, he still finished the Hatters top scorer in 1996. A quick and excellent finisher, Dwight was unlucky to have broken his leg, and perhaps, if it hadn't had happened he would have played at a higher level and ensured the Hatters stayed in Division One.

Profile By:  Andrew Barringer