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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this season 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 carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.