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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, 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 notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter 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 given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.