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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired 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 woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of 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 added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to 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, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.