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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.

"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 any kind of a championship battle. "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 horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.