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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover 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 desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team'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 views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear 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 the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.