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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest 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 mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.