Richard Dunne admitted his "respect" for Manchester City and their fans stopped him from celebrating his first goal for Aston Villa in the 1-1 draw at Villa Park. Five weeks after his enforced €6.7million move to Villa, Dunne powered home a header from Stephen Warnock's cross to break the deadlock but he was content to trot back to the centre circle and was applauded by the City fans for his actions.

A second-half goal from Craig Bellamy earned City a share of the spoils.

Dunne said: "It just seems to happen when you are up against a former club. People seem to score. I don't have a celebration for when I score. Usually if I score, it's a surprise. I don't know when it is going to happen.

"But, as much as it was nice to score my first goal here in front of the Villa fans, I still have to remember how Manchester City have helped me throughout my career.

"You have to remember Man City looked after me for a long time. I enjoyed my time at City and respect the fans and everyone there so it was the right thing to do for me.

"It gave us a good start in the game and unfortunately we couldn't go on to get the second.

"But City are a top side who are going to challenge for the top four this season and, for us to play as well as we did, is a good sign for us."

In contrast, former Villa skipper Gareth Barry was booed every time he touched the ball on his return to the club where he made 440 appearances in 11 years before a summer switch to City.

Barry also ended the game with a stiff back but City boss Mark Hughes believes he will be fit for England's World Cup clashes with Ukraine and Belarus.

He said: "As the game progressed he was getting stiffer and stiffer and he couldn't affect the game as much as he wanted to but we are really pleased with what he has produced up to this point. He has been outstanding.

"Is he an England doubt? We will have to wait and see. I don't think he is a doubt. He is just very stiff at the moment and he will need to be checked out to make sure there is nothing significant going on.

"But he will turn up and hopefully he will be okay."

Villa boss Martin O'Neill insisted the return of Barry had no affect on his side's performance.

He said: "Were we galvanised through Barry coming back? No, I don't think that at all. My own view was we had a game to play and Gareth is in the opposition now.

"It would have been strange for him to go into the away dressing room in the same way as Richard Dunne was a Man City player all these years.

"I experienced that myself as a player but it had little to do with the game.

"The players here have a great respect for Gareth for what he has done - and myself likewise."