Golden Arrows? midfield showed some real class, outplaying their AmaZulu counterparts to win the first leg of a two-legged MTN8 semifinal at the Chatsworth stadium on Sunday afternoon. A fine second half performance by Abafana Bes?thende saw them run out 2-1 winners, with Richard Henyekane grabbing a brace.

There was moment of silence before the kick-off as Usuthu dedicated the game to their former teammate, Jan Sillo, who passed away this past week in a car accident.

The game started at a slow pace with neither side really taking control. Consequently, very few chances were created in the first 20 minutes as both sides squandered possession, often giving the ball away very cheaply as a result of some poor passing.

However, after a nervous start by Arrows, they began to take a strangle hold of the midfield with Bilankulu dictating terms for his team. But despite dominating possession and their constant attacking, Abafana Bes?thende still struggled to create any real scoring opportunities.

Bilankulu did come close to breaking the deadlock in the 20th minute after a nice passing movement saw him find some space inside AmaZulu?s 18 yard area with the ball at his feet. Unfortunately for the Arrows fans his shot did not match the build-up; it was a weak effort with his left foot that saw Kalililo diving to his left to make the save.

In a rare foray forward for Usuthu in the 26th minute, Dlamini showed some fine skill to beautifully control a long ball from the back, and then proceed to dribble an Arrows defender before letting fly with his right boot. Da Rocha was definitely beaten, but luckily enough for him Dlamini?s 16 yard shot just went over the crossbar.

Richard Henyekane was only inches away from scoring a minute before the half time break after a piece of individual brilliance saw him work his way into the 18 yard box after beating three players. But again the finishing was poor as he toe-poked his shot over the cross bar from only 12 yards out when he should have at least hit the target.

The second half was more of the same as Arrows persisted with their domination and constant attacking. AmaZulu, on the other hand, seemed to fade away as their midfield was virtually non-existent.

Instead of wasting goal scoring chances in the second half, Arrows made no mistake in front of goal. Richard Henyekane was the first to make the Usuthu pay in the 61st minute when he scored the game?s opening goal.

A long throw-in from Musonda into AmaZulu?s 18 yard box, resulted in a goal mouth scramble, and eventually Henyekane picked it up at the back post, making no mistake as he fired the ball past Kalililo from only three yards out, 1-0.

Richard Henyekane nearly grabbed his second goal three minutes later, but was denied by the post. Joseph Henyekane shot from 20 yards out forcing Kalililo into making a great save diving to his left, but only resulting in punching the ball into the path of Richard Henyekane who struck the post with his follow up shot.

Henyeakne, however, didn?t have to wait much longer to pick-up his second goal of the match in the 67th minute. And what a goal at that; the striker let fly from 25 yards out and watched his shot sail into the side netting of the goal, 2-0. The keeper had no chance of stopping it.

Ngxabi was able to pull one back for his side five minutes into added time when he fired home a long range shot that found the bottom right hand corner of the net to give his side a fighting chance in the second leg of this two legged semifinal, 2-1. That is the way it ended. Arrows were the better team on the day and fully deserved the win.