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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division 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 sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.