Marriott in contention for return to the side against Exeter

The 22-year-old hasn’t started a league game since the 3-2 defeat to Cheltenham on January 31, with Isaac Vassell preferred to partner leading scorer Danny Hylton.

However, Marriott has impressed off the bench in recent matches, coming close to a late winner against Carlisle United in midweek.

On the striker’s reaction to losing his place, boss Nathan Jones said: “It’s been good, and they’ve all done that as they all know they’re competing.

“Jack played a big part early on in the season and Isaac’s had his opportunity and taken it, so we’ve got that option if we need that, if we need to freshen it up we have the capacity to do that.

“Saturday’s a big game, so whoever’s picked and whoever’s in there will need to be fresh and on the front foot.”

After signing from non-league Truro City in the summer, Vassell has progessed superbly, notching nine goals in total, including scoring five time in four games recently, but looked a little jaded at Brunton Park, replaced by Marriott in the 65th minute.

Jones admitted now might be the right time to give the former Plymouth striker a breather, as he continued: “The shift our players put in is a big shift regularly and especially our front two, who go through a real, real big work-rate.

“So it might be time that we might need to freshen that up. Isaac has done fantastically well, but you’ve got to remember it’s his first season in league football.

“The intensity that we play at, because we’re different from other teams in how we press and so on and he’s been right up there.

“So it might be that time, but we’ve got good options to be able to do that.

“They’re all pushing and wanting to do well. There’s a big competitive edge to the squad, so we’re going to use that.”

That includes recent signing Lawson D’Ath, who has only made two starts and four appearances in total since joining the club back in January.

He was due to come on against Carlisle, until Dan Potts suffered a head injury, with James Justin being used instead, and on the recent signing from Northampton, Jones added: “I know Lawson very well and he just lacks a little bit of game time at the minute, because of circumstances, the amount of games we’ve had and so on.

“But he’ll have an impact and we’re looking to moving forward as well with Lawson, we’re looking forward to working with him.”