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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told 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 levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £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 a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.