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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest 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. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.