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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views 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 look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.