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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic 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 table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already 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 man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.