Accra Hearts of Oak became a major topic at Kotoko's media conference on Tuesday, with the porcupines spending some time to touch on how to reverse a  20-year old nightmarish 4:0 defeat in the hands of the Continental Club Masters (CCM).

At Tuesday's unveiling ceremony, new CEO Nana Yaw Amponsah was discussing his policy direction for the Manhyia-owned club but made Hearts of Oak a participant in absentia, as the 4-0 victory in the year 2000 turned to be a reference point.

It was a media conference to inaugurate a new management committee to stir the affairs of the club, which pride itself to have a fan base of millions, but the CEO could not afford to let go the painful walloping the team suffered in the hands of the Jacob Nettey led 64 Battalions.

It remains a history, a nightmare and hard nut to crack for successive administrations of the Reds, but Mr Amponsah admits the Porcupines will only have to turn themselves into creatures they are not (WAFA), to be able to avenge the famous Wednesday night annihilation.

"Hearts once beat us 4-0, to be able to reverse that, we need a WAFA kind of team to be able to reverse that scoreline," Mr Yaw Amponsah said.

A brace from Ishmael Addo, one each from Kenneth Sarpong and Osei Kuffour in March 15, 2000 sent the porcupines back to Kumasi in their blunt quills.

Two 4-goal-thrillers have gone by after that and the Phobians have been able to pull their chesternuts out of the blazing fire in protecting the long-held record.

Kotoko on those two occasions came close to a revenge but were coincidentally denied by two rainbow men in armbands.

After leading the Phobians to clinch the 2004 CAF Confederations Cup against their perennial rivals in Kumasi, Skipper Amankwah Mireku had to head in a consolation for the Rainbow lads in to end a match in 3-1 in the 2005 league after conceding 3-0 in the first 30 minutes of the game.

The same feat was repeated by skipper Thomas Abbey in 2016/17 FA Cup final in Tamale, when he grabbed the consolation for the Frank Nutal led team.

Saddick Adams' hattrick looked so much for an assurance to revenge the famous scoreline, but it was Abbey who out-jumped the kotoko defense to end the match in a 3-1 scoreline.

The Kumasi-based side won the FA cup, but it was the Glorious Hearts of Oak that returned to Accra with the two-decades-old feather in their cap.

The event for the new management team on Tuesday was fabulously lighted but got agonisingly blighted with the memory of the heaviest scoreline between the two biggest club of the country.

It remains a scoreline of pride for the "Glorious",  but an annoying topic for the "Fabulous".

The WAFA inspiration

Arguably, between the two clubs,  when the 4-0 scoreline is mentioned, every other result bows.

Obviously the Hearts team that beat Kotoko by 4-0 in 2000 is stronger than the WAFA team that won 5:0 against Hearts in 2017.

Eventually the Hearts of Oak team that lost 3-1 in Tamale happens to be the same team that lost 5-0 in Sogakope, with  coach Nutall describing the situation as "a bad day in office".

Drawing inspiration from WAFA's 5:0 victory over Hearts of Oak means Yaw Amponsah is ready to invest more in team building, and the porcupine must be stronger than the 2017 FA Cup wining squad.

But that will also mean Hearts of oak will have to be a little weaker than it was three seasons ago under Nutall.

One month in office by the Nana Yaw Amponsah administration, and the 85-year-old giant Porcupines now dream of becoming a 20-year-old WAFA to reverse a 20-year-old nightmare of a scoreline inflicted on them by a 108-year-old Oak Tree.