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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much 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 meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion 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 Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.