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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot 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 circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge 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 highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover 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 combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.