Plymouth were thumped by Cardiff on Saturday and were reduced to 10 men at 2-0 after Ibrahim Cissoko shoved Ng to the ground. Ng initially kicked the ball at Cissoko, who reacted, and the Cardiff star was shown a yellow card, while Cissoko was given his marching orders.

Rooney watched on from the stands after being suspended due to his red card against Blackburn Rovers before the international break. The result was perhaps a shock, as Cardiff had been languishing at the bottom of the Championship table prior to kick-off. Plymouth have only won two of their last five league games.

Rooney told reporters: “He [Cissoko] has reacted, the player’s [Perry Ng] been clever and very dangerous.

“He kicked the ball at him on purpose, that could have been a different colour to what he got, Ibs [Cissoko] has reacted in the wrong way.

“The emotions of the game sometimes, you get those reactions and unfortunately that’s happened to us today.”

He added: “We have to give Cardiff a lot of credit. They deserved to win the game, they were the better team.”

Plymouth, who are now 19th in the Championship, play 20th-placed Millwall on Wednesday. They will hope to bounce back quickly.