Manchester United used Saturday's Matthijs de Ligt controversy as "fuel" for their 2-1 comeback win over Brentford in the Premier League.
United moved up to 10th in their table with their third win of the season despite falling behind to Ethan Pinnock's header in first-half stoppage time.
The source of Untied's frustration was that De Ligt not being allowed on the field to defend a corner that came from him blocking Kevin Schade's cross.
It was a clash with Schade earlier in the game, when De Ligt stooped towards a bouncing ball and clattered the top of his head against the German player's knee, which left De Ligt bloodied.
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In the 45th minute, he left the pitch for the second time so United's medical staff could try to staunch the flow of blood. Shortly after his return, referee Sam Bennott asked the Netherlands centre-back to be removed once more, at which point Pinnock took full advantage of some slack set-piece marking
"We felt some injustice and we used this as fuel for the second half," said Ten Hag, who saw the excellent Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund score fine goes to secure a much-needed win. "We increased the tempo and scored two great goals. I really enjoyed the performance, especially the second half."
Ten Hag and his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy were show yellow cards for their protests in the aftermath of the Pinnock goal and the United boss contended De Ligt should have been allowed to continue because he was not actually bleeding at the time.
"It was dry blood. He was already treated for that injury, it was just dry blood. So no one from us understood why he was sent off," he said.
"I went over to Mattijis and asked 'what's wrong' and he said 'it's just dry blood, I have to come off, I don't know why'.
"Of course it was a huge moment because Brentford is very good in corners and when you miss one of your best headers and they take benefit from it, of course you are disappointed."
On whether this was the moment that inspired his players, Ten Hag added: It's hypothetical, we will never know. But definitely we were mad, we were angry at halftime."
