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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.