Swallows beat their Cape Town visitors in a tense penalty shoot-out after Marawaan Bantam failed to convert his place kick.

Both teams started the first half cautiously and very little goal-mouth action was created in the first 30 minutes.

Santos winger Tyren Arendse livened up the game with a brilliant solo-goal in the 31st minute.

Arendse took the ball from within his half and coasted past three defenders with ease before cooly slotting the ball past Nigerian goal keeper Greg Etafia to make the score 1-0.

Swallows came to life and desperately attacked the visitors goal but could find no way through a rock-solid defence marshaled by captain Edries Burton.

Birds coach Gavin Hunt was forced to make a substitution when Musa Otieno and Lungisani Ndlela clashed heads and the latter was stretched off with a gaping wound.

Otien continued to play minutes after receiving first-aid attention on the sidelines while Shaun Permall came on for the injured-Ndlela.

The half ended with the champions having a one-goal advantage.

The second half saw the Soweto team stringing together passes with more purpose.

Swallows skipper Goodman Mazibuko and Peter Petersen combined well before releasing Albert Kometsi who swung in a cross from the right-wing which met Alois Ngwerume who converted the cross.

An unmarked Ngwerume headed past a stranded Santos keeper Brendan Wardle on 66 minutes.

Both teams tried in vain to find a winner for the duration of the half and even after 30-minutes of extra-time they had no result.

The penalty shoot-out got the better of The Peoples' Team star-midfielder Bantam who shot wide while Permall blasted his team's final penalty to advance to their second cup final of this season.

The Dube Birds will face either Ajax Cape Town or Manning Rangers who contest their semi-final Absa Cup game in Durban tomorrow (Sunday)afternoon.