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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count 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 DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss 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 expires, and awoke this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.