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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards 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 Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided 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." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.