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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.