(REUTERS) – Manchester City are just two wins from their first Premier League title but captain Vincent Kompany has warned the race is not yet over. The Belgian scored the only goal of the game as City usurped rivals Manchester United from the top of the table with just two games remaining, raising unmarked just before half-time at the Etihad Stadium to settle a compelling and frantic derby that lacked quality but more than made up for in tension.
Reigning champions United, thumped 6-1 at home by City earlier in the season, were disappointing and could not avert a rare “double” by their ‘noisy’ neighbours.
City, who last won the league in 1968, moved above Alex Ferguson’s side on goal difference with a tricky away match at Newcastle United and a home game with strugglers Queens Park Rangers to come.
The Manchester rivals both have 83 points but City hold a superior goal difference of eight.
The momentum is now with Mancini’s side who have clawed back an eight-point deficit since Easter to move within sight of a first top flight title since 1968.
“It’s far from over and we know that,” Kompany said in the tunnel as celebratory songs from City’s long suffering fans echoed into the Manchester night.
“But just to give our fans two wins against Manchester United this season … we have to finish it off and I hope we can show this in the next two games.”
He added: “Someone texted me today and said he thought I was going to score the goal and I thought he was a lunatic!
“For us to get this result, we wanted it so bad. It all comes down to the dream we had when we were children, and we all want it so much.”
United had just two shots on target, hardly forcing City goalkeeper Joe Hart into a save, and Mancini, who took the club into the Champions League for the first time this season, said his side were deserved winners.
“We are happy but next Sunday we have another difficult game (at Newcastle),” he said. “But we deserved to win this game, we had other chances for a second goal and they did not have any chances to score.”