Friendlies are dire at the best of times. Even the anticipation of the coming season and glamour opposition is dulled by tepid football that lacks energy and passion. These negative traits weren’t enough to dissuade the few thousand Hibs’ fans who braved the cold to watch their Monday night match with Bohemians, writes Craig Fowler.

Circumstance had conspired against Hibs. The club had put their dreadful mid-season run behind them, responding with five consecutive wins and continuing that turnaround with a respectable draw away at St. Johnstone. Then a number of factors stepped in and attempted to dissolve their momentum: a combination of an early cup exit; bad weather in Inverness; Celtic playing in the League Cup final and a Scotland match meant they would have to go a month without a competitive game. To make matters worse their next opponents would be Hearts in the season’s 3rd (and possibly final) Edinburgh derby. To combat rust and any potential fitness problems the club scheduled a friendly with Bohemians of Ireland.

Players and staff had to involve themselves in this game to try and fight against the month away from competitive football. The fans didn’t. They could have remained comfortable, warm and £10 better off by staying in their homes. Yet around 4,000 decided to venture down to Easter Road to take in the proceedings. Their reasons were obvious. These people had not come down to scream on their favourites or make any real judgement on new signings: striker Ricardo Vaz Te and goalkeeper Jakub Divis. They had not even arrived expecting to be entertained – within the first few minutes they were pairing off and indulging in personal conversations with a friend or relative seated next to them. A month without seeing their team was obviously too much of a strain on the emotional bond; merely sitting and viewing men in pale green shirts was enough to satisfy that. Only the “12th man” singing section remained in a defiantly boisterous manner. Situated in the top-left hand corner of the East Stand, this hardy group began their vocal support once the teams had arrived and continued it throughout the opening stages of the game.

Their unrelenting support may have persisted had the team given them any reason to remain joyous. Even by usual friendly match standards this was pretty poor. Hibs, to their credit, weren’t helped by the fact Bohemians kept ten men behind the ball and seemed content to hold on for a 0-0 draw. Lone striker Chris Fagan was so isolated that it’s doubtful a phone call could have reached him. The result was Hibs calmly kept possession in the opposition half but lacked that coherency and fluidity in their play to carve open opportunities. When they did their players seemed surprisingly shy about shooting: Derek Riordan; Liam Miller, Matt Thornhill and Ricardo Vaz Te all either passed up opportunities or took one touch too many.

“WHEN I SEE YOU CELTIC, I GO OUT MY HEAD, I JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH, I JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH”

This chant inexplicably became audible from the far left-hand corner of the main stand. It had started and progressed in unison and was the first of many Celtic numbers that would reverberate around that corner of the ground for the rest of the half. The Hibs’ fans looked around bemused. Why were they here? Immaturity was an obvious answer, but they weren’t even kids. They were a group of fully grown men who’d presumably decided it was an acceptable idea to get over their side’s recent League Cup Final defeat by attending a friendly at Easter Road and winding up the home support, something they weren’t even doing right. They’d taken up position and attacked the main stand, an area that was filled with families and half-hearted support. If they wanted to wind someone up, they needed to take up residence at the opposite end of the stadium where the “12th man” continued to belt out their songs, oblivious to the intruders. They had decided to lift themselves again and provide a full-backing to their team. It didn’t matter to them if there were no circumstance to what happened tonight, they were going to do their job and sing their hearts out regardless. On 38 minutes, they got their reward.

Derek Riordan played a reverse pass straight into the path of the onrushing Martin Scott inside the penalty area. Unlike his shot-shy colleagues before him, “Jimmy” stayed cool and slid his first-time effort past Boh’s keeper Barry Murphy. Hibs then doubled their lead five minutes later. This time Scott turned provider as his ball over the top released Liam Miller through on goal. The midfielder kept his composure to send a cheeky little lob over a diving Murphy and into the goal.

Seven minutes into the second half the Celtic contingent decided they’d had enough. Eight of them were visible leaving the stadium together and one can only speculate if their intentions had been fulfilled. Although the facts don’t back up their decision: they paid a collective £80 to get it; lining the pockets of a club they don’t support; they watched roughly 37 minutes of football, in that time frame Hibs scored two goals and no opposing fan took their bait except a group of Hibs’ fans who were no older than eight.

Had they remained patient for another ten minutes then they may have had something to cheer. Chris Fagan went down in the penalty area under the challenge of Ian Murray and the ref pointed to the spot. It was a soft decision and one that was met by a few guffaws from the home fans. Clearly the official had become so bored that he’d take it upon himself to make things interesting. After a stutter step run-up, Fagan dispatched the penalty in the left-corner. Picking the ball out of the net was the only thing debutant Divic would have to do all night.

Little pockets of people left as the game drew to a close, but credit to the majority who remained rooted to their seats. There was no further chance of entertainment; they just missed supporting. Any elongated time period without your football team creates a void - similar to the way in which a mother would miss her child. This night was an exercise in filling that void.

Then the reality hit home, with five minutes remaining Bohemians substituted their goalkeeper. It was a reminder to everyone that this was a meaningless friendly in which pointless substitutions are a common occurrence. It triggered a mass exodus that continued past the referee blowing for the full-time whistle without adding a second of injury-time.

Craig Fowler is a freelance journalist and co-presenter on The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter @craigfowler86 for some top quality nonsense/football patter. Follow The Terrace on Twitter @terracepodcast or join the FaceBook group to also have your say.