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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.