Played for Villa: 1931-1936
Position: Forward
Appearances: 173
Exactly one ton of Villa goals earned Welshman, Dai Astley, his place in the club's history. He came to Villa's attention as a Charlton player when he ran out at Villa Park against West Brom in the FA Cup. Once with Villa he became a fan favourite (Villa fans love their strikers!), one of his best performances coming against Sunderland in the FA Cup campaign of 1934. Sunderland had dumped Villa out of the competition the year before, without Astley in the Villa side. This time out, revenge was exacted with seven Villa goals, four of them from Astley himself and another three from Eric Houghton. (Astley also scored the winner in the next round, and the next!) That season was Astley's most prolific, with 33 to his name, although 21 in both seasons which followed proved his consistency. Astley was one of a number of departures during the lowly 1936-1937 campaign, his 100th goal coming in an October 1936 win against Barnsley. He was sold on to Derby County, and in his time also represented Wales on 13 occasions, scoring a dozen goals along the way.
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Position: Forward
Appearances: 173
Exactly one ton of Villa goals earned Welshman, Dai Astley, his place in the club's history. He came to Villa's attention as a Charlton player when he ran out at Villa Park against West Brom in the FA Cup. Once with Villa he became a fan favourite (Villa fans love their strikers!), one of his best performances coming against Sunderland in the FA Cup campaign of 1934. Sunderland had dumped Villa out of the competition the year before, without Astley in the Villa side. This time out, revenge was exacted with seven Villa goals, four of them from Astley himself and another three from Eric Houghton. (Astley also scored the winner in the next round, and the next!) That season was Astley's most prolific, with 33 to his name, although 21 in both seasons which followed proved his consistency. Astley was one of a number of departures during the lowly 1936-1937 campaign, his 100th goal coming in an October 1936 win against Barnsley. He was sold on to Derby County, and in his time also represented Wales on 13 occasions, scoring a dozen goals along the way.
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