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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.