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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.