hashirama was clearly above madara. when madara fought the senju clan you act as if hashirama would have gone all out. he would not have needed to go all out as he was already more than a match for madara by himself. so it stands to reason that he was not going all out. not to mention his brother was there also who would also give madara a hard time. don't reference the edo tobirama and madara scuffle. not only was madara alive at that time, but he also had hashirama's senjutsu, and had the rennigan which he wouldn't have had during that original time. so don't act like madara can handle the senju clan by himself.
as for the valley of the end fight, hashirama clearly had the upper hand. madara even brought in the kyuubi to make it a more even fight, but hashirama still beat him. as for how they looked, you forget that hashirama pulled a faint on madara. he pretended to be mortally wounded in order to get madara from behind. the fact that hashirama, despite madara having the kyuubi, still came out with the victory proves this fact. i also made it clear that even if someone is superior to another that doesn't mean the fight will be easy, unless that other person is fodder.
that was my whole argument for which you and Trollking are missing. it is not contradictory to say someone sits above another, but still say it will be a had fought battle. it's all about match-ups, and the fact that sasuke is a great ninja in his own right, just like madara was even though he was always below hashirama.