Man City 1-0 Man Utd - Aguero does it again

Sergio Aguero grabbed the only goal in the Manchester derby

Chris Smalling lost his head as Manchester United lose the Manchester derby 1-0.

The Manchester Derby saw City dispatch the 10 men of United 1-0 in a pulsating encounter to end a three-match winless streak.

With both managers opting for attacking sides there was plenty of space to allow adventurous play to flourish, something that City took full advantage of in the first half. David de Gea was called into action early on, beating away Sergio Aguero's rasping drive from his near post in the eighth minute.

The Spaniard was again on hand to bail out United in the 21st minute, with not one but two quality saves. The first was to deny Jesus Navas' close range shot, while the second was to come out and spread himself to stop Aguero being able to do more with Fernando's through ball.

However, the first half will be remembered more for the officiating than the chances. The main talking point, although there isn't much debating, is Chris Smalling's early bath. The centre-back was idiotically booked in the 31st minute for deliberately impeding Joe Hart, who was attempting to clear the ball from his hands, and then eight minutes later he clumsily hacked down James Milner in what can only be described as a gross lapse of judgement.

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And while Michael Oliver got the Chris Smalling decision right he was wrong not to afford City two penalties. The first, in the 42nd minute, saw Marouane Fellaini tred on the back of Aguero's leg to bring him down, he even had the cheek to berate Aguero afterwards despite clearly being in the wrong. As for the second, Marcos Rojo brought down Yaya Toure who was close to latching on to a delightful elevated through ball from Stevan Jovetic.

The second half saw something that Louis van Gaal was dreading, losing another centre-back to injury. Rojo rushed out to try and stop Martin Demichelis' marauding run, but came off worse in the 50/50 tackle and had to leave the field on a stretcher in the 53rd minute.

City's pressing paid off and they were rewarded with the goal they deserved in the 63rd minute, and what a great goal it was. Toure, who looked a lot more like his old self, played a devilishly good ball through the right flank of the United defence, allowing Gael Clichy in behind. The Frenchman's low cross into the box was absolutely perfect and Aguero was on hand to expertly lash the ball home from 10 yards.

For those watching it would have appeared that the floodgates were about to open, instead, it provided a catalyst for a United resurgence.

A really good run by Wayne Rooney in the 77th minute ended with him floored in the City box, again Oliver opted against pointing to the spot, although the loose ball managed to find its way to Angel Di Maria, who set himself and shot low and hard towards the bottom right hand corner. Somehow Hart managed to get down to it and get a strong right hand on the loose ball to keep City's lead intact.

A minute later Fellaini had an arguably even better chance. This time it was Di Maria who turned provider with a wonderful floated free-kick into the area. Fellaini though, with a free header, could not find the target.

It was a very anxious showing from City in the final stages of the game but in the end they hung on to take a vital three points.