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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.