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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.