Reading lined up in their traditional blue and white colours on Tuesday night, but Stevenage arrived at the Madejski Stadium for the third round replay wearing white, red and blue which made it difficult to split the teams apart.
So, at half-time, Reading's kit man had the thankless task of digging out a whole new strip for his team as the players re-emerged from the tunnel in bright orange. There was no chance of a clash then.
Reading beat their League Two opponents 3-0, but neither manager saw the funnier side of the mix-up.
"I've never seen that before," Reading boss Jaap Stam said post-match. "Their players were complaining about the colours and it's difficult when two teams are wearing similar colours. I said before the game it was strange but they only had that shirt and a blue one.
"They needed to wear a different kit. There was a week between the games, so everyone knew what colours we were wearing.
"Our kit man made the decision to go and get the second kit. He thought ahead and anticipated, it was his own initiative and you need that."
Stevenage manager Darren Sarll said: "It was something out of a Sunday morning situation, it was scandalous."
Reading's 3-0 victory came thanks to a Jon Dadi Bodvarsson hat-trick.
