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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs 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 current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time 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 standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. 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 appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.