First-half goals from Brandon Hanlan and Garath McCleary gave Wycombe their third win in four matches, as they defeated Burton Albion 2-1 at Adams Park.

The 5-0 thrashing from 28 days ago was a distant memory as Wanderers dominated the first-half, with the home side’s first big chance of the match falling to McCleary after 13 minutes.

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The former Reading man was found via a Chris Forino flick on, and the Jamaican international unleashed a cracking first-time shot that stung the palms of Ben Garratt.

The keeper did well to deny McCleary, with the rebound by Jordan Obita going just wide.

Wycombe bossed the ball around and tired out Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s men by stretching the play, as Jason McCarthy and Obita pulled the Albion midfield apart.

And this patient build up play eventually paid off as the Chairboys took a deserved lead through Hanlan.

The striker got the ball on left-hand touchline and ran past three members of the Brewers’ backline, before bending in a beautiful shot from 20-yards to give the Blues the lead.

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It was his third of the league season, his fifth overall, and Wycombe were ahead.

The goal was the least Wanderers deserved as they continued to penetrate the visitors.

Obita’s acrobatic effort was blocked off the line, McCleary’s long-range shot was saved by Garratt, Forino scooped over and scuffed attempts from Jack Grimmer and Jason McCarthy went begging for the home side.

It was all Wycombe.

Hanlan nearly got a second but his thunderous half-volley flew over whilst a Sam Vokes header went wide.

Gareth Ainsworth’s men eventually sat back which allowed Burton to have the ball, but nothing came of their attacks as Cameron Borthwick-Jackson saw his effort be blocked whilst ex-Wanderer, Aaron Amadi-Holloway forced David Stockdale into an easy save.

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Amadi-Holloway scored a hat-trick when the two sides last met in November.

And those missed chances for Albion were vital, as Wycombe doubled their lead through McCleary on the stroke of half-time.

After being put through by his former Reading team mate in Obita, McCleary cracked a left-foot shot past Garratt to double the host’s lead.

It was his sixth of the season, with all of his goals so far this campaign coming at Adams Park.

Half-time came at the right time for Burton as it gave the Brewers a chance to regroup, and this is exactly what happened at the start of the second-half.

Albion had the ball, caused problems and got a goal from out of nowhere on 53 minutes.

With nothing on, Conor Shaughnessy tried his luck from inside the box and after it took a huge deflection, it looped over Stockdale to give Hasselbaink’s men a glimmer of hope.

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This stunned Adams Park into silence as the goal, overall, came against the run of play but it gave the away side a chance in a match that they were second best in.

This seemed to wake Wycombe up as Ainsworth’s side started to play their usual football, but Garratt again denied Obita’s fierce drive cross, moments after the former Royals left-back put another attempt wide of the mark.

Adebayo Akinfenwa could have wrapped up the win on 90 minutes but his close-range header went over, but it didn’t matter, as Wycombe secured their third win in four matches.

The victory takes them up to second in the table on 41 points, joint top with Rotherham.