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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover 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 combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.