BILLY Sharp swelled his season’s total to 23 but Phil Parkinson reckons his two-goal salvo against Wanderers was not motivated by revenge.

A video of Wanderers striker Gary Madine did the rounds on social media in the build-up to the game, making some indignant headlines on the other side of the Pennines.

The footage appeared to show Madine insulting Sharp to camera and his comments were branded “disrespectful” by an angered Blades boss Chris Wilder last week.

The Bramall Lane favourite clearly had the last laugh, with his double helping Sheffield United to an important victory.

Sharp joked on Twitter: “I’ve just had a Chinese and four beers and I’m still hungry.”

But Parkinson reckons the well-travelled former Scunthorpe frontman should have needed no extra firing up and that Madine’s social media remarks did not affect his performance.

“Does Billy Sharp need motivating to play in front of 30,000 people in a top-of-the-table clash? I am not sure he could have been motivated any more,” he told The Bolton News.

“The Sheffield press have made a bigger thing of it than it actually was. Well done to them and Chris (Wilder) if they need to motivate their players by doing that.

“Billy is a good player at this level. Everyone knows he’s scored goals at this level before and he would have been pumped up whatever the build-up was to the game.”

Madine was withdrawn from the squad before kick-off but Parkinson said the decision was purely related to an illness.

Conor Wilkinson replaced him up front – throwing some of Wanderers’ tactical work into disarray.

“We made the decision about half past one, which disrupted a lot because Gaz is key in terms of organisation on set plays for and against,” he said.

“Conor came in and worked hard for the team. It’s always difficult when you are thrown in there at the last minute.

“But if you are not well enough to play then hopefully leaving him out will get him right for Tuesday.”