Rangers seemed in freefall under Hughes' predecessor Neil Warnock, but the Welshman steered his team out of the relegation zone with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over bottom side Wigan. Goals from Akos Buszaky, Heidar Helguson and Tommy Smith sealed all three points while Hugo Rodallega was on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Rumours of dressing room unrest had dogged Warnock during the latter part of his tenure at the west London club, but Rangers put on a united display, much to Hughes' pleasure. The Welshman said: "I'm delighted. It was a good performance."
He added: "It's not easy winning Premier League games you give yourself a better chance if you are committed and you work hard. That's what we did.
"The lads have been working exceptionally hard since I came here. I have only been here two weeks but when you are down near the bottom of the league it's important to show commitment and the right attitude and the lads are doing that so a lot of credit has to go to them.
"It hasn't been easy for them but they have shown character, they have come together as a group and I have sensed there is a real togetherness here."
Roberto Martinez is confident his Wigan team will avoid the drop once more after flirting with relegation ever since they were promoted in 2005.
"I am really, really confident we will stay up," Martinez said.
"We have to play a lot better, though, that's clear. We went through a spell of eight straight defeats but we overcame that. We are ready. There are 16 games to go. We know we need to get eight wins and I feel we are well capable of doing that.
"We will carry on working to try to improve the squad. We had a couple of injuries and without them we were a bit soft. We will use the transfer window to try to help the players we have at the club, but we already have belief and desire to do it."
Source: PA
Source: PA