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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, 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 both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems 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 Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.