Scottish Premier League/ Celtic 1 Hearts 1: The compass has been smashed and no one can be sure where the season is going. For the first time since Alex Ferguson left Aberdeen for Manchester United in 1986, neither member of the Old Firm looks sure to lead the way.
There are just 10 games gone but so far it is Hearts who are striding ahead.
Their visit to Celtic Park was noteworthy not just for the extension of an unbeaten record, but because the players acted as if they expected nothing less of themselves.
The psychology of Scottish football has been shifting for months.
The Hearts manager George Burley veers between downplaying the significance of autumn form and dropping hints that a potent side is emerging. "To go 10 games undefeated in any league is tremendous," he said. They started Saturday's game with a forceful confidence that Celtic could not match for a while. An unlikely project is having an impressive effect.
Vladimir Romanov, the owner of Hearts, has often decided which players to sign and that type of meddlesome behaviour normally undermines a manager, but Burley, whatever his true feelings, has made it work.
The economic instability across much of European football means that wheeling and dealing can secure such internationals as Panagiotis Fyssas, the Greece left-back, and Rudi Skacel, the Czech midfielder.
The latter, a frequent scorer, equalised just three minutes after Celtic had taken a first-half lead. Paul Telfer made a rash decision to let the ball run through to Artur Boruc when he should have cleared for a throw-in. Skacel pursued hard and, with the Poland goalkeeper failing to gather cleanly, he challenged, scrambled back to his feet and knocked the loose ball into the net.
Boruc, on loan to Celtic from Legia Warsaw for the season, has received an offer to sign for Arsenal next summer and whether or not he departs he will have a tight grip on a lucrative future.
Strachan has radically altered the line-up while still aiming to keep faith in the veterans closely associated with Martin O'Neill. He brought back Neil Lennon and Alan Thompson on Saturday, after suspension and injury respectively, only to discover that neither was in the condition to deal with a relentless Hearts side.
Nonetheless, there is promise in Strachan's young players. Craig Beattie, putting Celtic in front after 13 minutes, was lucky in the deflection off Julien Brellier that helped his shot into the net, but had created space for himself with guile.
Rangers, meanwhile, failed to make up ground on Hearts and Celtic after being held to a goalless draw at Dundee United yesterday.
* Guardian Service
CELTIC: Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Camara, Petrov, Lennon (Hartson 70), Nakamura (Agathe 84), Thompson (Maloney 63), Sutton, Beattie. Subs not used: Marshall, Virgo, McGeady, Wallace. Booked: Sutton, Thompson. Goal: Beattie 13.
HEARTS: Banks, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas, Skacel, Brellier, Hartley, Camazzola, Jankauskas, Pospisil (Elliot 78). Subs not used: MacDonald, McAllister, Simmons, Mikoliunas, Wallace, Tall. Booked: Skacel, Pressley, Brellier. Goal: Skacel 16.
Referee: D McDonald (Scotland).
