Matt Hamshaw on the injury suffered by Rotherham United new boy Lenny Agbaire

The 20-year-old centre-half started his fourth match in a fortnight in today's 3-0 loss at Cardiff City and failed to appear for the second half.

Hamshaw says he is having to push his fit players harder than he wants to because so many members of his squad are sidelined.

“Lenny has got a bit of a hamstring issue,” the manager said. “He just over-stretched. It seems to be a common thread at the minute. It's one of those things where he's putting his body through it.

“He is going to be a top player for us. He's still a young lad, he's probably still getting to know his body. But in the position we're in at the minute with the number of players we've got out, we're asking players to probably go over and beyond what they're physically capable of.”

Agbaire, who has been arguably Rotherham's best player in the early stages of the League One campaign, will undergo tests on Monday that will reveal the extent of the damage.

Hamshaw refused to speculate on the possible length of any absence for the defender but it would be a surprise if the former Celtic man is available for next Saturday's home clash with Wigan Athletic.

“We'll see, we'll see,” the boss said. “We'll get a scan on him and take it from there.”

Before today, the Millers were already without midfielders Kian Spence, Josh Benson and Shaun McWilliams along with attackers Sam Nombe, Josh Kayode, Kion Etete and Ben Hatton.

Spence, Nombe, McWilliams, Hatton and now Agbaire all have problems related to hamstrings.

The Millers contained a strong Cardiff side for more than 40 minutes but conceded just before the break and were then dominated by Brian Barry-Murphy's Bluebirds throughout the second half.

The home team opened the scoring when Yousef Salech headed in direct from a corner and eased further away soon after the interval through Cian Ashford and Rubin Colwill.

“I'm really disappointed with all three goals we conceded,” Hamshaw said. “To concede the first one from a soft set-piece is really disappointing.”

Cardiff should have been down to ten men before the half-hour mark. Teenage debutant Dakarai Mafico was on a booking when he escaped a further one for bringing down Dan Gore and was immediately substituted.

Describing the incident as “a turning point”, Hamshaw said: “‘Murph’ brings the left-back off straight after he could have had a second yellow card. It is what it is. I'll let people make up their own minds on that.”