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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news 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 leading of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.