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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and 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 experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover 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. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. 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 lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.