Money has not yet bought Manchester City success, and it did not even buy excitement as it drew 0-0 with Manchester United in a derby that failed to live up to the pre-match hype on Wednesday.

What had been billed as the most interesting Manchester derby in years, as City's expensive team aimed to prove it could stand shoulder to shoulder with its more decorated neighbor, fell flat compared with last season's thrillers.

Three times last term the local bragging rights were determined by late goals, all in United's favor, and with an away draw the red side of Manchester stayed in the ascendancy.

City manager Roberto Mancini, whose defensive approach has often been questioned by fans, looked on the bright side despite few chances for either side in a slow-paced match.

"We are improving from last year," he told a news conference. "(We got) one point tonight, (we got) zero points last year when we scored goals but we lost."

Asked if his team was closing the class gap on United, Mancini said: "We need more time, but I think so."

United will be happier with the point, although both teams lost ground on leader Chelsea, which beat neighbor Fulham 1-0 to go four points clear of Alex Ferguson's side, which is still unbeaten. City stayed fourth, seven points adrift of Chelsea.

"There was probably too much tension in the build-up to the match and it probably wasn't as open as people thought it would be," Ferguson told Sky.

Neither half featured much to impress England manager Fabio Capello, who was deep in discussion with world No. 1 golfer Lee Westwood as both sides produced the soccer equivalent of bogeys.

The best chance of the first half fell to former United forward Carlos Tevez when his powerful free kick looked to be whizzing straight for the top corner before an outstretched Edwin van der Sar tipped it wide.

United had earlier gone close when Patrice Evra cut through the City defense, but the French defender's right-footed shot went straight into Joe Hart's arms.

The visitors had the better possession but seemed lacking in energy, as if they had not quite got over the flu virus that had hit many of them over the last week.

Dimitar Berbatov could not control his first touch as the ball bounced too high and his right-footed shot was easily taken by Hart just before halftime, while at the other end Tevez did a lot of running but most of it in vain.