Thirty One Year old David D'Auria has been a Chesterfield player for almost three years since John Duncan signed him for £50,000 from Hull City in November 1999.  However a series of injuries, mean that he's still relatively unknown to Chesterfield fans.

Born in Swansea, David, nicknamed Dai due to his Welsh roots, started with his home City Club. Terry Yorath was the Swans Manager that selected him for his League debut, as a 17 year old he came on as a sub on 31st August 1987 in a Division Four match at home to Hartlepool, City won 2-1, his team-mates at that time included Chris Coleman, Alan Knill, Sean McCarthy and Alan Davies. Made four sub appearances that season as The Swans won promotion via the Play Offs, made a further sub appearance before his first start, at home to Wolves, in September 1988. The result? Swansea 2 Wolves 5, Steve Bull got two for Wolves and Dave returned to the bench. Scored in consecutive 1-0 wins, against Aldershot (A) and Northampton (H) in a run of six straight starts but after that he didn't manage another 90 minutes that season.

Still a teenager at the start of 89-90, David appeared in just 7 games that season, battling against the likes of John Salako, Tommy Hutchison and Andy Legg for a midfield slot.  Was a regular for much of the season after , scoring 4 goals in 12 starts plus 8 subs appearances  but in the summer he left the League to play for Merthyr Tydfil.

At the time, Merthyr were in the Conference, Dave made 38 appearances, scoring 5 goals as his new side finished 4th behind Colchester, Wycombe & Kettering. A regular again in 92-93 (39 games, 2 goals) but Merthyr finished in 16th.

Moved to Barry Town, members of The Welsh League Division One (one level down from the League of Wales), and Barry won the League title, 21 points clear of Aberaman, and they won the Welsh Cup to complete the "double", by winning 2-1 at Cardiff Arms Park against Cardiff City, David scoring for the non-leaguers in the Final.

 Dai Managed a single game in European Competition, a 1-0 home loss against Zalgiris Vilnius of  Lithuania but by the time the second leg came along, Dai was back in the Football League with Scarborough, Steve Wicks the manager that brought him back to the League scene.

Immediately a regular at the McCain Stadium, Dave got his first taste of  Chesterfield when The Spireites won 1-0 in Scarborough thanks to a goal from Tom Curtis. Bagged 7 goals himself that season, including home and away against Fulham but Boro struggled in 21st place in Division Three.
Dai at Scunthorpe

Started the first 18 League games of 95-96 (plus a 2-0 win for Chesterfield at Scarborough in the FA Cup) before moving to Scunthorpe United for £40,000, replacing Wayne Bullimore in the Iron line up after he'd moved to Bradford City. Missed just one match for the rest of the season , scored 5 goals, including a penalty against Scarborough in a match in which he bagged his first ever League pair, and once again, he scored home and away against Fulham!

Averaged 40 games a season over the next two seasons, scoring 13 League goals as The Iron finished in mid-table both times before moving back North of the Humber with Hull City in the summer of 1998.
                                                      Dai at Hull disguised in Blue & White ?
Captained The Tigers when Warren Joyce was Manager, but financially troubled Hull struggled near the foot of the basement table after Dave had scored on his debut, a 3-1 defeat at Rotherham.

Joined Chesterfield and made his debut as a sub for Junior Agogo against Oxford and he featured in just 4 more games before a foot injury struck and kept him out for the rest of the season as The Spireites were relegated to Division Three.

Last season, he managed just 4 starts plus a couple of subs, one of his games being the sublime 4-1 win over Leyton Orient. Battled to full fitness and looked superb in pre season games until Mr Woodhouse intervened. David returned to action as a late substitute in the LDV Cup match against Shrewsbury last Tuesday and was an immediate hit scoring the only goal of the game to take the Blues into the next round. With a return to the starting line up seemingly upon us, we look forward to seeing the best of a man we've waited so long to get to know on the field of play.

David D'Auria's League Career