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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems 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 Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.