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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much 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 meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.