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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally 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 forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can win.