🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. 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 ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite 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 added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.