IT might have been 40 years ago but the current Kilmarnock manager and a Rugby Park legend of the 60s remember as if it were only yesterday - for vastly different reasons.

Jim Jefferies was the young Hearts fan who was almost reduced to tears as Killie came to his beloved Tynecastle and beat the Jambos 2-0 to become Scottish champions.

The scorer of the first goal that afternoon, Davie Sneddon, still bristles with pride at the memory and yesterday he and team-mate Jackie McInally were back at the Ayrshire ground to model a commemorative jersey that will hit the shops this week.

Jefferies and Sneddon are singing from the same hymn sheet these days but back then it was a different story.

The last day of the1964-65season saw Hearts lead Killie by two points and as luck would have it the teams were due to clash in Edinburgh.The Jambos needed only to avoid a two-goal defeat to be crowned kings - but Kilmarnock inflicted just that result upon them.

Current Killie Team boss Jim Jefferies wryly recalled the events of that day, saying: .....'Two-one would have done Hearts and I can remember Alan Gordon having an overhead kick in the dying minutes and the goalkeeper made a great save, tipping it on to the post.

'I was just a nipper ... okay, I was about 14, I went there obviously hoping Hearts would win the league and anything other than a two-goal defeat would have done it - - but Killie were a good side and they did what was needed.

'Everybody knows I supported them as a boy - - the whole family did - and we were all there to see them winning the league but it didn't turn out that way.

'I don't remember too much about the goals Killie scored but I do know that Hearts just needed to score one.

'But you can't deny that Killie did what they had to do. They were playing the team that could have won it on their own patch and they got the job done.

'They were a great side and it's a tribute to them with the strip coming out.'

Sneddon agreed wholeheartedly. He still smiles at the memories - particularly when he remembers struggling to be allowed into Rugby Park for the championship party that followed.

He said: 'It was a great day. I actually don't remember too much apart from me scoring in the 26th minute (right) and then Brian scoring four minutes later.

'Hearts hit the bar in the first half before we scored, so we could have been one down.

'Then near the end Bobby Ferguson made a great save from a shot that was going in the postage stamp and that was us. The referee played about two minutes overtime and it seemed ages.

'Any slip-up would have been terrible because we had to win by two clear goals.

'But we didn't have any plans for a party so we went back to the ground.

'We had been in the Scottish Cup Final in 1957 and 1960, the League Cup Final in 1963 and lost them all, so we didn't actually organise anywhere to have a celebration because we'd had those two disappointments.

'We came back through the town and it was absolutely mobbed. The police met us and told us there were thousands waiting. It was a pity that the Glasgow boys had got off the bus in the city and they didn't see it.

'I lived just along the road 300-400 yards from Rugby Park and got into my house to discover that my wife wasn't in - she had gone to the ground to celebrate.

'I made my way over and got to the gates where a guy wouldn't let me in. I said, 'You have to let me in' and the guy said, 'Nobody's getting in'.

'I said, 'Do you not ken me? 'Then the penny dropped and he let me in. It was a great night.

'It was the only time I ever saw our manager Willie Waddell excited because he could be quite dour. But he got the best out of his players.

'That team didn't cost us anything. I was the only player who was bought and that was just £16,000 from Preston.

'Half of the team came from the Kilmarnock area and you wouldn't get that now. There are too many foreigners and we aren't developing as many youngsters, so it's bad for the game.

'But I don't know if Kilmarnock will ever win the league again, so it is nice to be remembered by bringing out this strip.'