Mokrane scored all eight of his team’s goals and produced one of the best saves of the tournament from a Brendan Gaulin penalty to keep Algeria just 4-3 behind at the interval.

The 37-year-old then scored five goals in the second half as his team went ahead and pulled clear to record their second win from four matches at the Paralympic Games.

‘It was an interesting game. Even though we were losing, I knew in my heart that [winning] was possible,’ said Mokrane. ‘We knew Canada would not last in the second half and we took advantage of that.’

Iran, one of the crowd favourites at the Copper Box, saw off the Republic of Korea 4-3 thanks to a second hat-trick of the competition for Seyed Mehdi Sayahi. In the other Group B match on Day 4, China and Belgium played out an uneventful 0-0 draw.

In Group A, European champions Finland bounced back from their opening three defeats to beat Great Britain 7-3 and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals - with one match to go against Sweden.

Finland dominated the opening period and took a 3-1 lead into the break, before scoring four times after the break - with Jarno Mattila top scoring with four goals.

Finnish player Ville Montonen said: ‘In this match our team had a more relaxed attitude compared to the earlier games. Our team really wanted to win because the Finnish president was in the crowd and we wanted to impress him.’

Also in Group A, Fatmir Seremeti scored all five of Sweden’s goals in a 5-5 draw with world champions Lithuania, for whom Mantas Panovas and Genrik Pavliukianec scored two goals apiece as they secured their place in the quarter-finals.

Huseyin Alkan scored twice and Tuncay Karakaya netted two penalties as Turkey won 4-1 against Brazil, who had led 1-0 at half-time thanks to Romario Diego Marques’ goal.

In the women’s competition, Great Britain claimed their first Goalball victory of London 2012 with a 3-1 win over Brazil in Group C.

They came from 1-0 down to score three unanswered goals through Jessica Luke and a double from Anna Sharkey either side of the interval.

The British team improved their chances of making the quarter-finals with the victory and team member Georgina Bullen said: ‘We wanted this game, we deserved it. We didn't change our tactics, we stuck to what we knew.

'In fact we cancelled our training session yesterday (Saturday) and just relaxed.'

In Group D, double Paralympic champions Canada recorded their first win of the competition with a 3-1 triumph over winless Australia thanks to a brace from Amy Kneebone.

In the same pool, Japan sealed their place in the last eight after a goalless draw with Sweden, who must beat Australia in their final preliminary match to progress.