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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his top secret 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 Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.