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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches 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 – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating 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 team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.