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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.