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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus 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 comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn 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 questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can win.