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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already 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 man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate 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 expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads 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. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.