Aston Villa and Manchester City battled it out for a 1-1 draw at Villa Park, with the returning Gareth Barry given plenty of grief by the home support. But it was a Manchester City old boy who opened the scoring for Villa on 15 minutes.
Richard Dunne rose above Barry to power home a header from Stephen Warnock's corner.
The defenders celebrations were muted out of respect for the travelling City support.
Emmanuel Adebayor returning from a three-match ban brought the best out of Villa stopper Brad Friedel as both sides crested chances in an entertaining encounter.
The introduction of substitute Stephen Ireland in the second half was to prove decisive; on 67 minutes he found Adebayor who squared for Bellamy to thump home from close range.
