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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers 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 apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

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

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers 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 entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems 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 matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.