Socks and sandals do not go together.
Nor do football and penalty shootouts, if you ask the Dunedin City Royals.
The Dunedin club was a couple of tremendous saves away from a place in the Kate Sheppard Cup final.
Northern Rovers will take the spot instead, following a pulsating semifinal in Auckland on Saturday.
The game was tied 1-1 at fulltime and 2-2 after extra time.
The Royals fell behind twice but rallied.
Leanna Ryan scored in the 13th minute for Northern and the home team took that advantage into the break.
But Shontelle Smith curled the ball in from a corner to equalise 10 minutes into the second half.
Replacement Kate McConnell nodded in during the first half of extra time, but the Royals came back once more.
Hannah Mackay-Wright got on the end of a pinpoint free kick from Smith and headed it into the back of the net.
The second spell of extra time was end-to-end but neither side could find a winner.
So, it went to a penalty shootout which Rovers won 5-3.
To slog it out for two hours only to lose like that was the worst feeling.
Dunedin City coach Graeme Smaill felt his team had done enough to win the game.
"It took us a wee while to get settled at the start.
"We dominated them in the second half and created a lot of chances, but the goalkeeper pulled off a couple of saves otherwise we might have been out of sight.
"We are super proud of the girls; there were a lot of great performances."
Smith and Mackay-Wright were outstanding, as were Toni Power and Rose Morton.
"They were standouts but there were a bunch of standouts, really."
Northern has now gone 23 games without losing which helps put the effort of the Royals into perspective.
In the other Kate Sheppard semifinal, Auckland United beat Palmerston North Marist 5-2 in Auckland.
Martine Puketapu banged in four goals to set up the win.
Kate Sheppard Cup semi
The scores
Northern Rovers 2
Leanna Ryan 13’, Kate McConnell 99’
Dunedin City Royals 2
Shontelle Smith 55’, Hannah Mackay-Wright 105’
Penalties: Rovers 5-3.
