After losing their unbeaten streak in matchday 4, Mastercard bounced back in incredible fashion in matchday 5, beating a strong FIS team 21-14, the highest scoring game in the league so far. A back-and-forth game with some excellent football on display, a real thriller for fans of both teams.
FIS made a lightning start to the game, with league top scorer Chris O’Flaherty treating himself to a hat trick within the opening five minutes of the game. He notched his fourth shortly after and it looked like Mastercard were suffering from a hangover to last week's defeat and that FIS were going to cruise their way to three points.
However, that was not the case. A clinical finish from last week’s man of the match Sergio Dhillon opened the scoring for Mastercard, and they went on to score an incredible TEN first half goals in as many minutes. Abbas Ghahremami, Alex Ward, and Wilder Liddle all found their name on the scoresheet as the FIS defence struggled to handle the pressure that Mastercard applied. Mastercard led 12-5 at the half time interval.
With a seven-goal advantage at half time, Mastercard came out for the second half looking like a team that had already won and were quickly made to pay for it. Zander Drummond helped himself to his first goal of the Fintech Football Championship, then his second, and shortly after that his third, as FIS looked to mount an unlikely comeback.
It was a crazy second half where seemingly every shot on goal found its way into the back of the net. Man of the Match Alex Ward scored a ridiculous ten second half goals to eventually put the game to bed and to make an impact on the top goalscorer chart. Mastercard picked up the 3 points and both teams still have an outside chance of claiming of the title but they'll need to be faultless from here on in and they'll need other teams to do them a favour!
Final Score: FIS 14 vs 21 Mastercard
Man of the Match: Alex Ward