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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

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 might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.