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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer 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 anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.