Danny Olsen put the Danish side ahead in the 15th minute at Eastlands when he capitalised on Richard Dunne's mistake with a neat finish.

City winger Martin Petrov also hit the woodwork with a late free-kick but Hughes' side could not turn their possession into chances.

"Perhaps we were a little bit behind them in terms of sharpness and match fitness but that is no excuse for tonight," Hughes told ITV4.

"We need to get up to speed before the weekend and hopefully this game will let us know where we are at and what we need to do.

"In the first half we had too many unforced errors and needed to play in their half and not get trapped in our half which is what happened.

"In the second half they put people behind the ball and played on the break which they did very well.

"We needed to be dynamic and more personality and drive the play. Fair play to the opposition though they understand the counter-attack game and executed it well.

"We are short of a few players and are a bit light so we're still in the market for players. The match is only at half-time."

Midtjylland defender Danny Calliff felt that City had underestimated his side and is optimistic of a positive result in the second leg

He added: "We have to believe that we could get a result. We had to match the effort and tonight it was enough.

"I think at the start of the match they didn't expect us to come out and take it to them with the energy and effort that we showed.

"We expected them to come back at out ground and not underestimate but we'll have out fans behind us and we believe we can do it."