Yesterday, there was no such drama but equal amounts of anguish as the Dunedin club once more fell short of its first appearance in the knockout final.
Caversham was beaten 2-1 by Napier City Rovers in wet, windy conditions at Bluewater Stadium in Napier.
Rovers will now play Wairarapa United in the Chatham Cup final on August 28.
For rookie Caversham coach Richard Murray, getting to the final in his first season would have been quite a feather in his cap.
Instead, he and his players are again having to digest the hollow reality of another semifinal defeat.
"We're just gutted. It's an extremely empty feeling," Murray told the Otago Daily Times after the game.
"It's going to take a while to get over this one.
"You can look back and wonder what went wrong. But at some stage, you just have to kick on and break that hoodoo."
Caversham made a stunning start to the game when it grabbed the first goal inside three minutes.
Jeremy Wild broke down the left of the park and floated in a cross, which ricocheted off a couple of sets of legs.
The ball wafted out to the edge of the box, where Evan Jones was waiting to drive it home and give Murray's side the perfect start to the game.
Caversham lost experienced defender Tim Horner to a hamstring injury after 30 minutes but, at 1-0 up, and turning to play with the wind, the visiting side was in a strong position.
However, the first 15 minutes of the second spell did not go as planned.
Caversham defender Tom Schwarz conceded a penalty when he challenged Andy Pickering and clattered him off his feet. Napier City's Stu Wilson took the spot kick and drilled it high and to the left of Caversham keeper Callum Flaws.
Ten minutes later, Napier City grabbed its second goal, with a counter-attacking move down the right flank leading to a cross to an unmarked Josh Stevenson on the far post, who buried the ball into the net.
Murray said it was a wake-up call that Caversham heeded.
"We really stepped up the tempo after going 2-1 down, and I thought we dominated most of the last 20 minutes."
Caversham created some good scoring opportunities, with an Ant Hancock strike hitting the bar and a header going close.
But Napier City, known for its staunch defence, parked up and maintained its lead, to the delight of the parochial crowd.
Murray thought, on reflection, Caversham might have fallen into the trap of trying to push for an equaliser through the middle of the park, rather than looking for space on the flanks.
Caversham still has league games remaining, with a chance of finishing second, but the pain of cup defeat may linger.
A bad day got even worse when the closure of Dunedin airport meant the players were stuck in Wellington overnight.
It will be an all-Central final, with Wairarapa United stunning Bay Olympic 1-0 in Auckland yesterday.
The match was postponed from Saturday, as Wairarapa was unable to fly into fog-shrouded Auckland.
- The scores
Chatham Cup semifinal
• Napier City Rovers 2
Stu Wilson, Josh Stevenson
• Caversham 1
Evan Jones
• Halftime: Caversham 1-0
