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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.