Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini happy with derby victory

Manuel Pellegrini

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was happy with his side's victory over Manchester United despite holding on at the end against the 10-man visitors.

Chris Smalling was sent off for United towards the end of the first half after collecting two bookings, but City had to wait until the 63rd minute to grab the crucial winning goal through Sergio Aguero.

The win ended a run of two straight defeats to West Ham and Newcastle and closed the gap on league leaders Chelsea to six points.

Pellegrini admitted he was happy with the three points, but conceded his side switched off letting United back into the contest after they scored to set up a nervous finale.

"I'm very happy with the three points," Pellegrini told Sky Sports. "A derby is a derby and you must win it and we won.

"I think we played very well up until the moment we scored the goal, but when we scored the goal maybe we finished playing thinking that the game was over, but it wasn't over."

City also had three penalty claims rejected by referee Michael Oliver with Pellegrini shocked the official failed to give Yaya Toure a penalty on the stroke of half-time after he appeared to be upended by Marcos Rojo inside the box.

"I think we had clear chances before we scored the goal, especially in the first half we had two very, very clear chances again," added Pellegrini.

"One penalty for Yaya it was unbelievable he did not whistle.

"But we continued playing the way we started and the necessary trust to think you will score." ...SkySports