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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look 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 all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. 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 strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.