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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present 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 ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed 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 man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.