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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.