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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, 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 reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. 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 lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed 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 win.