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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.