Hibs winger Daryl Horgan opens up on eerie feeling of playing behind closed doors

Daryl Horgan admits he isn’t relishing the sight of 20,000 empty seats at Easter Road when Hibs run out to begin their Premiership campaign against Kilmarnock on Saturday.

But the Irish winger insists the lack of atmosphere inside their own stadium will be no excuse for a poor start to the season for Jack Ross’ side.

After five pre-season friendlies against other top flight clubs, Hibs have had the chance to get accustomed to the experience of playing behind closed doors.

Perhaps the most eerie of those occasions was Monday’s 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park where even the recorded crowd noise piped through the 60,000-capacity stadium’s PA system couldn’t disguise the surreal environment football has become amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It is likely to feel even stranger when the competitive action kicks off this weekend and Horgan knows he and his team-mates will have to find their own source of motivation in the absence of any Hibs supporters.

“A game is a game and you just have to focus on that,” Horgan said. “It's great having fans there, but you have to play for yourself and do yourself justice as well.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for anyone really, even though the atmosphere won’t be the same. It would be great to have full houses again, so hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

“I didn’t really notice the tannoy noise at Celtic Park but it’s disappointing to go to any stadium and it’s empty. You’re hearing your own voices echo around the place.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s where we are at the minute. Hopefully Covid eases off and we can start getting people back into stadiums and get back to a bit of normality.

“At the minute, there’s football going ahead and we’re very lucky. We’re in secure zones and things like that, and it’s been good to get back playing, but obviously football is a lot better with the fans.”

Horgan scored Hibs’ late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday before providing the assist for Josh Doig’s opener against Celtic. After previous bounce games against St Mirren, St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies, the 27-year-old feels Hibs are well primed for the test Kilmarnock will provide.

“The preparations have been good,” he added. “Obviously it’s been a bit different to what you are used to, playing friendlies against the other teams in the league and things like that.

“It’s been good though, we’ve made the most of it and I think we’ve got a lot out of it. Everybody is ready for Saturday to come.”

Horgan is hopeful he has done enough to earn a place in the starting line-up against Killie as he bids to become a regular first pick for Ross’ first full season as Hibs boss.

In the latter stages of the curtailed 2019-20 campaign, the Republic of Ireland international was mostly used as a substitute by Ross and has not started a competitive fixture for Hibs since the Scottish Cup win over Lowland League outfit BSC Glasgow back on February 9.

With fresh competition for places in the attacking positions now being provided by summer signings Drey Wright and Kevin Nisbet, Horgan appreciates the personal challenge facing him as he goes into the final year of his current contract with Hibs.

“Everyone wants to play every week and we have a very strong squad now,” said the former Preston North End man.

“The two elevens in the last two friendly games against Aberdeen and Celtic, everyone did pretty well. To have that strength in depth is good.

“Every footballer wants to play every game and every 90 minutes, but probably that won’t be realistic.

“For myself, when I get in, I just want to try to create goals, score goals and make chances. That’s my job and if I can do that, then I will play more in the long run.”