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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.