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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire 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 able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged 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 added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team 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, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.