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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to 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 endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.