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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed 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 claim.