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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.