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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

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

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just 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 equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.