Sheffield United refuse to be drawn into the war of words which followed FA Cup win over Wrexham

Phil Parkinson and Ben Tozer, the visitors’ defender, both accused Sharp of disrespecting the non-league club with his behaviour in the tunnel following a match which saw the hosts advance to the fifth round where they will meet Tottenham Hotspur.

After discovering his opposite number Parkinson had criticised the United captain’s conduct following the final whistle, before Tozer also weighed-in, Heckingbottom told The Star: “It was probably because he scored the decisive goal. Genuinely, I’m not interested in it. There’s lots of things that come with Wrexham, because they’ve done and are doing fantastically well. I’m really not bothered about what anyone might have mentioned. When there’s that spotlight, everything gets magnified and intensified doesn’t it.”

“There’s a way to win and a way to lose,” Heckingbottom added. “That’s it.”

MORE: United tear up the FA Cup script

After Wrexham’s leading goalscorer Paul Mullin had cancelled-out Anel Ahmedhodzic’s opener from the penalty spot, Adam Davies denied the former Cambridge striker from 12 yards before Sharp and Sander Berge struck during the closing stages of the game. Ten days earlier, United had seen teenage centre-forward Daniel Jebbison sent-off following an off-the-ball clash with Tozer as they were held to a 3-3 draw at the Racecourse Ground. Although Heckingbottom’s employers elected not to contest that decision, some more controversial calls by the match officials heightened the tension during the return fixture.

Parkinson accused Sharp of misreading both the pre-match conduct and personality of his squad after praising them for “taking a very, very good team right down to the wire.”

Describing Sharp as a “clinical finisher”, Parkinson said: “I was a bit disappointed with Billy at the end, some of the things he was shouting in the tunnel - I thought he was a bit disrespectful. My message to Billy is: ‘You’re better than that.’ My players are humble people and a credit to the club.”

MORE: Why United won’t be doing a ‘Welcome to Wrexham’

Tozer also rounded on Sharp, a lifelong United supporter, during an interview afterwards. However his claim that United had advertised tickets for the meeting with Spurs before kick-off fell flat, when it emerged he was referring to a photoshopped Tweet.

“I feel a ‘dampner’ has been put on it by their behaviour in the tunnel, with their lack of humility,” Tozer said, before conceding a social media post on one of Wrexham’s social media channels - referencing Spurs - might have been misconstrued. “They should show more respect to us, telling us to shove it on the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary that’s going on. I said to his (Sharp’s) face afterwards: ‘Show more humility.’ I didn’t think we’d done anything disrespectful, whereas you also had Oli McBurnie saying stuff about us in the press beforehand.”

Having started him in north Wales, Heckingbottom elected to rest McBurnie ahead of Saturday’s game against Swansea City. The Scotland international, who has been troubled by an ankle injury of late, is expected to feature in that contest as United look to strengthen their grip on the Championship’s second automatic promotion berth.

“The performance was good,” Heckingbottom said. “But we couldn’t really get our goals until the end which made it a better game.”

MORE: United felt the circus demonstrated a lack of courtesy