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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga 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 total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those 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. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.