Nea Salamina and Anorthosis played out a 2:2 draw in a Club Friendly on Tuesday, 12 August 2026. The match opened quickly, with the first goal arriving in the fifth minute. Anorthosis responded before the interval, and then both sides traded blows in the second half. And here's the thing — four goals in such a short window is not something you see every day.
The opening goal came at the five-minute mark, setting the tone for an open game. Anorthosis levelled before the break at the forty-sixth minute, right on the hour of play. Then came the flurry in the second half: a goal at fifty-seven minutes followed by another at fifty-nine. To be fair, it was a end-to-end affair from start to finish.
Salamina dominated possession at sixty per cent to Anorthosis's forty, but the numbers tell only part of the story. The hosts registered seventy-seven attacks compared to sixty-six for the visitors, yet neither side could find a winner. Three corners for Salamina against one for Anorthosis suggests the visitors were content to sit deeper and counter.
Discipline was generally good, though Salamina picked up a yellow card while Anorthosis received two. No red cards were shown, and neither side committed any offsides. The statistics are interesting — Salamina had more possession but fewer corners, which is a pattern I've seen before in friendlies where teams are still finding their rhythm.
For Salamina, this result follows a run of mixed form in recent friendlies. They beat Enosis 1:0 eight days ago and drew with Nechecha 1:1 before that. Anorthosis has been away from competitive action since mid-May, with their last outing a 0:1 defeat to Olympiacos Piraeus. By then, they'd had a string of results that included a 5:2 win over Digenis Ipsonas.
The draw means both teams head into the new season with questions rather than answers. Four goals in the match, but neither side could close it out. It was a friendly, sure, but even friendlies reveal something about how a team is shaping up. And this one ended level — nothing more, nothing less.