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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland 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 Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.