Plying his trade in the non-league, including a string of rejections from league clubs, was hard to take but Town's new boy admits the bright lights of Wembley ensured he never gave up.
His Wembley dream suddenly became a lot clearer last night when he capped an meteoric last few months with the winning spot kick in Town's fortuitous 7-6 Johnstone's Paint penalty shootout win at Aldershot.
It may just have been the first round but, in all fairness, Marshall's dream of making the Wembley final should have been over for another year even before his 59th-minute introduction as substitute.
Aldershot dominated a dreadful tie for the majority and after Rob Elvens and Scott Davies' penalty had cancelled out Simon Cox's opener, there only looked like there was going to be one winner.
Jerel Ifil's thunderbolt spared Maurice Malpas' men's blushes with seven minutes remaining, leaving Marshall to seal the tie in penalty shootout sudden death.
Penalties in Aldershot may not be on the top of most footballer's wishlist but, having just broken into league football at the age of the 23, former Eastleigh winger Marshall still could not wipe the smile off his face.
He said: "We are a step closer to my dream. Wembley is the biggest stage and who would not dream of playing there.
"It is a great opportunity for us all.
"This is the best moment of my career. I looked at my phone and all my friends have texted go on Marshy'.
"The boys worked hard tonight. There were spells when they had the advantage but we held on and could have won it in normal time at the end."
Kevin Amankwaah was handed his full Town debut at right-back, while JP McGovern, Pat Kanyuka and Lee Peacock were all given starts as well, replacing Lilian Nalis, Billy Paynter and Hasney Aljofree.
But it was the League Two outfit who started the brighter and even Cox's close-range finish on 32, from Ifil's knock down, failed to dampen the hosts' enthusiasm.
They were quickly level on the stroke of half time when McGovern lost his man for Elvens to turn home a loose ball from a long throw and it got worse a few minutes after the break.
Ifil rashly lunged into a challenge in the area and, while contact seemed minimal, Danny Hylton went down and was awarded the penalty.
Davies rammed home the spot-kick and suddenly a cup upset seemed certain, with a lacklustre Town a shadow of the side that beat MK Dons 2-1 on Saturday.
Ifil though saved the day and Craig Easton should have fired Town into the next round minutes later but he dragged his 12-yard strike wide of goal.
Billy Paynter then spurned a chance to shoot Town through in regulation penalties, after Phil Smith had saved John Grant's effort, but Marshall made no mistake after Junior Osbourne blazed over.
"I made up my mind I was going down the middle but as I went to kick it, the keeper dived and I changed and kicked it the other way," said Marshall.
"I was just delighted to score but my heart was in my mouth. It is a long walk and I was thinking wow, score this and we are through.
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