LUCAS Akins bagged himself a brace of goals and David Templeton's third of the season ensured a happy Boxing Day as Albion came from behind to beat Wycombe Wanderers.

After Jake Buxton had unfortunately sliced a cross into his own net to give the visitors an undeserved lead Albion hit back with two goals in as many minutes to grab the lead before vitally giving themselves a two goal cushion when Akins fired home from Marcus Harness' cross four minutes into first half stoppage time.

Despite the disappointing defeat at Luton on Saturday there was just the one change for the visit of Wycombe to the Pirelli Stadium. Buxton returned to the side after an impressive display at Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup victory and he came in at the expense of Devante Cole who dropped to the bench. Buxton slotted into the back four alongside Ben Turner with John Brayford moving across to right back freeing up Lucas Akins to move into the central attacking role.

The game had barely got under way when there was a stoppage for an injury to Chairboys skipper Adam El-Abd. The defender got up well to steer a header across goal from a free kick but then stayed down with what looked like a nosebleed requiring a couple of minutes of attention before being able to resume.

The game had not long resumed when Albion suffered an injury problem of their own, Jake Hesketh pulling up sharply in a chase for the ball with Wycombe defender Joe Jacobson. David Templeton was quickly called from the bench as the young Southampton midfielder trudged disconsolately towards the bench, his game over.

With Templeton on it meant a switch of wings for Marcus Harness and he almost unlocked the Wycombe defence on 12 minutes with some delightful close control to get into the box and deliver a curling low cross that just evaded the full length stretch of Scott Fraser to try and make contact at the far post.

The young winger was relishing his opportunity to impress and but for an impressive save from Ryan Allsop in the Wycombe goal he would have had the opening goal, linking superbly with Akins before driving into the box, cutting inside and aiming low for the far corner only to be denied by a very good save from the keeper.

After all their great build-up play it was rather harsh when the visitors grabbed the lead on 27 minutes. Jacobson picked up the rebound when his corner was cleared back out and with a second opportunity he curled in a teasing cross that BUXTON could only slice beyond Collins who could do nothing.

The visitors lead only lasted six minutes as the Brewers responded in excellent fashion. John Brayford and Harness both threatened the Wycombe goal before a storming run from Reece Hutchinson set-up an opportunity for AKINS to turn on a loose ball and smash it in at the near post when there appeared to be no shot on. Just over a minute later and the turnaround was complete as Akins turned provider this time firing a low ball across to the back post when TEMPLETON was able to guide the ball home beyong Allsop's desparing dive.

The game was remarkably open and as the game ticked into added time it went from Wycombe attacking from a corner at one end to Templeton firing over from an excellent chance at the other end as Allen broke upfield at pace.

The half could not have ended better for Albion with AKINS in the right place to fire home from no more than six yards after more excellent work from Harness on the right, teasing the full back and delivering a fine cut back for the striker to bag his second of the game.

Half time: Burton Albion 3-1 Wycombe Wanderers

Harness was quickly in the thick of it again as the second half got underway picking out Templeton in the centre but the Scot unable to keep his effort down at the near post when it looked all set up for him to double his tally for the afternoon.

Templeton did manage to keep his shot down on 52 minutes following good work from Harness and Quinn but Allsop was there to deny him this time with a good save low down to his left.

Akins, on a hat-trick was twice denied by an outstretched defensive leg as Albion looked to put the game to bed. But this was a game where the next goal was going to be vital and it was Wycombe who almost grabbed it when Mackail-Smith tested Collins with a curling effort on 65 minutes with the Albion stopper more than equal to it.

It gave the visitors a sense that they were more than in the game and when Jason McCarthy tricked his way into the box it took a combination of Collins and Brayford to keep out his low shot and prevent Mackail-Smith pouncing on the loose ball.

Templeton, on his way back after his own injury lay-off lasted until 73 minutes when he was replaced by Kieran Wallace allowing Hutchinson to push forward on the left. Wycombe also made a change with Adebayo Akinfenwa went on up front in place of Mackail-Smith to offer a different dimension to the Wycombe attack.

Both Harness and Allen fired over as Albion looked for the finish that would complete the job and although Wycombe piled on the pressure in the closing stages, Collins was equal to anything that came his way to secure a more than satisfying Bank Holiday victory.