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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. 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, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.