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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.