Roberto Mancini has hailed the mental strength of Man City after they beat Wolves 3-1 despite being reduced to 10 men.
City boss pleased after 10 men close out 3-1 success over Wolves
Roberto Mancini has hailed the mental strength of Manchester City after they secured a 3-1 victory over Wolves despite being reduced to 10 men.
City appeared to be cruising at the Etihad Stadium after goals from Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov before skipper Vincent Kompany was shown a straight red card with 15 minutes remaining for bringing down Kevin Doyle.
Stephen Hunt converted the resulting penalty to set up a tense finale, but the Blues kept Wanderers at bay before substitute Adam Johnson netted a third for the hosts in stoppage time.
It means City are once again five points clear at the top of the Premier League after second-placed Manchester United had temporarily cut the gap earlier in the day with a 1-0 win at Everton.
City boss Mancini said: "With 15 minutes to go, it was very hard, but I am very proud because with 10 men, we were strong.
Defended strongly
"We defended strongly because they didn't have any more chances to score, and then we scored another goal.
"This is good. When you have 10 players and you can take the result and score another goal, this shows a very good mentality."
The match was quite different to the midweek Carling Cup fourth-round meeting between the pair at Molineux, which City had won 5-2.
Given that result and the Blues' 6-1 derby demolition of Manchester United in the league last weekend, many expected Saturday's assignment against Wolves to be a comfortable one, but it turned out to be far from the case.
The fact that City achieved something of a battling win on this occasion would seem an encouraging sign for their title credentials, although when it was suggested to Mancini that this one had not been quite so spectacular as other recent triumphs, he said: "When you win it is always spectacular! Even if you win 1-0."
Balotelli hint
Mancini only used Mario Balotelli - who had scored six goals in his previous five games, including a brace against United - as a second-half substitute, suggesting that he will start the Italian striker in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League fixture at Villarreal.
Balotelli is available having completing a three-match European suspension and Mancini feels the 21-year-old could be a key figure to City's hopes of qualifying from Group A due to the experience he has of the competition from his time playing with Inter Milan.
Speaking of his decision to start with Sergio Aguero and Dzeko up front on Saturday, Mancini added: "I thought Sergio needed to play after his injury, and Dzeko played very well on Wednesday (in the cup game against Wolves), scoring two goals.
"With Mario, sometimes it is important that he gets rest - and also because we play again in a few days.
"Mario has experience of the Champions League with Inter and I think he could be important against Villarreal.
"It is important he recovers, even though he only played for 20 minutes."
