Cyprus and Northern Ireland have played out a goalless first half in their friendly at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia.

The visitors nearly took the lead in the 12th minute through Martin Paterson, but his header from close range was kept out by Antonis Georgallides.

However, Cyprus came close to opening the scoring minutes later when Constantinos Makrides's effort was cleared off the line by Ryan McGivern.

The home side started to control the match following that chance, though it took them until 35 minutes to create another good opening as Nestoras Mitidis was thwarted by Alex Bruce's last-ditch block.

Ireland goalkeeper Alan Mannus was called into action twice during the final seven minutes of the half when he denied Demetris Christofi and Charalambos Kyriakou.