Tony Bloom's bold Hearts claims given credence as early table-toppers live up to expectations

Some hope. Hearts are already staring down at everyone else from the top of the league. The expected upheaval caused by Storm Floris proved limited in the end, certainly with regards to the staging of this football match. However, the disruption – his word – promised by Bloom to Scottish football’s established order might well be real. Is there a new wind about to blow through the game?

The Brighton & Hove Albion owner certainly seems to think this is very possible. He was in town to watch his first game since his investment was officially ratified at an egm earlier this summer. His funds and, perhaps just as importantly, his data-led monolith now implemented at Hearts continue to bear fruit in the shape of some irresistible performances. This was the latest one and it will be treated as a more reliable bellwether than League Cup wins over the likes of Dunfermline and Stirling Albion. Aberdeen, Scotland’s most recent major trophy winners, felt the force. If not swept aside, then the team expected to be challengers for third spot in Scotland were dealt with pretty efficiently courtesy of goals in each half from Graeme Shinnie, who put through his own net, and defender Stuart Findlay. But then Hearts’ sights are seemingly aimed higher than simply being best of the rest.

Like Bloom, McInnes was in situ to enjoy the show against one of his former clubs. However, he might have needed a dose of smelling salts to revive him after being informed of events at Tynecastle the previous evening, when Bloom told supporters that Hearts had a very good chance of finishing second “at least” this season.

Over to you, Derek.

They can’t do much more than win their first game of the new league season, which is a big step forward when compared to last season when it took them until October to collect their first three points. Things started to go their way pretty swiftly here. Just ten minutes in, in fact.

New fans' favourite Claudio Braga was the agent of chaos on the right though he was aided by Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester losing his footing as he attempted to deal with the lively winger. The ball seemed in danger of going out of play but Braga managed to retrieve it and then play a ball into the box towards Oisin McEntee, who bulleted a header towards goal.

This effort was well saved by Scottish Cup hero Dimitar Mitov. Cammy Devlin pounced on the subsequent clearance but his shot struck McEntee and was deflected out to the left. The stretching Harry Milne returned it into the goalmouth and the unfortunate Shinnie could only deflect the ball into the net.

One minute you’re holding the Scottish Cup aloft, the next you’re scoring an own goal on national television on your 34th birthday against the team whose fans have always enjoyed the chance to mock. “Graeme Shinnie, he’s one of our own,” the home supporters chorused.

Aberdeen could not have expected to be allowed to stand on ceremony here, even if it was the first competitive outing since that memorable afternoon at Hampden. Apart from booting the ball straight out of play from kick-off, perhaps in expectation of the wind holding it up, they had started confidently enough.

However, the loss of the early goal unsettled them and it seemed as if they were hanging on for the most part for the rest of the half. Milne saw his piledriver crash off the top of Mitov’s bar after 14 minutes.

Somehow, amid this relentless energy being displayed by the hosts, Aberdeen came close to levelling. Strikers are often in need of some luck to get off the mark and Kusini Yengi would not have complained if a goal he knew very little about had been credited to him. He seemed to be trying to control the ball if anything following Nicolas Milanovic’s cross but it rebounded off him and then struck Zander Clark’s far post before being cleared.

Yengi might be better when he’s not got the chance to think about what to do. He spurned a glorious chance five minutes into the second half when Leighton Clarkson’s curling free kick found him dead centre of the goalmouth. However, Yengi’s attempt dribbled hopelessly wide.

Aberdeen were still very much in the contest at this point, much to the home fans’ growing frustration. They might not have been had Lawrence Shankland’s curling strike from the edge of the box just before half time not been struck off after a VAR check. Craig Halkett had strayed marginally offside in the build up.

Shankland had been a peripheral figure up to his point and he struggled to impose himself in the second half as Aberdeen made a better fist of dealing with the hosts and started to make some inroads themselves. McInnes changed his side’s shape in an effort to counteract this and switched to a back four while also making a quadruple substitution shortly afterwards, with James Wilson, who replaced Braga, among those coming on.

If nothing else, the extended stoppage helped disrupt Aberdeen’s momentum. They barely threatened again and were further deflated by Findlay’s clincher after 73 minutes via a brave header after Knoester had failed to deal with Milne’s free-kick. While VAR stepped in to review a possible offside call, the goal was deemed valid and Bloom’s lofty aims look equally credible.