An eagerly-awaited Manchester derby saw the visitors in control throughout, even after Cristiano Ronaldo had been sent off.

Aside from a speculative Stephen Ireland effort that flicked off a post and a late snap-shot from captain Richard Dunne which Patrice Evra booted off the line, City created little as they slumped to 14th in the table, just two points above the drop zone.

But Hughes acknowledges United currently have a decisive edge.

"We have to compete against Manchester United and in the near future we will. But at the moment they are a better team than us," said Hughes.

"We are going in the right direction but this is not going to happen overnight for us and in the first-half we showed them too much respect."

With Robinho restricted by an ankle injury that required a pain-killing injection for him to take part, the Blues' strikeforce was blunted significantly.

And Hughes could see United's streetwise tactics ensured City's other danger-man, Shaun Wright-Phillips, never got a decent run at the visitors' defence.

"If I can be diplomatic and say United have great experience of being able to control the game and dictate the momentum of the play," said Hughes.

"Sometimes they do that by stopping people in their tracks and Shaun was stopped on numerous occasions."

Counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson was relieved to have secured three precious points thanks to Wayne Rooney's sole strike.

"We needed to win the game because we are behind Liverpool and Chelsea, so it was a significant result for us," he said.

"I love the type of goal Wayne scored. Andy Cole was a specialist at it.

"Wayne anticipated the situation very well and I am delighted with that.

"It is a marvellous achievement for him to get 100 goals. His work rate was phenomenal."