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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. 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 famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect 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 lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change 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 certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.