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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot 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 resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover 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 mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.