NOW DER TO DREAM

This was a statement victory - Hearts really are title contenders after all

- » KEITH JACKSON

IT'S starting to feel as if Derek McInnes has been made for precisely this moment in time.

As if his entire managerial career may, in fact, have been nothing more than preparation for what is about to come next.

Because the game in this country may be witnessing the death of Del the Disruptor and the birth of something truly monumental in the making.

We could be watching history being woven into the rich fabric of Scottish football. One or two of us have been suggesting as much for a while now.

But yesterday, when the juggernaut McInnes has created at Hearts smashed into Celtic and left the champions a crumpled, smoking wreck, the realisation began to sinkin up and down the land this is real after all.

Hearts really are title contenders after all. As a matter of fact, they might soon be regarded as out and out favourites to go the whole way, which would be a remarkable achievement in itself regardless of how it all pans out further down the line.

This was a statement victory if ever there was one. Hearts came charging out of the starting blocks to grab Celtic by the collars of their shirts.

And even though captain Callum McGregor responded to this act of outrageous aggression by dragging his own side back up off the floor, not even he could hold it all together long enough to make a meaningful difference to the end result.

McGregor was magnificent in the heat of that first-half battle.

When his teammates were in danger of collapsing and going weak at the knees following the early concession of a horror story of an own goal, their skipper rose to the challenge all on his own. For the next 20 minutes or so, McGregor dominated the centre of the pitch and helped himself to a textbook equaliser. And at that point, it felt like the rerunning of an old and familiar story.