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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, 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 anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.