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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.