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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual 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 number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis 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 total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.