COLBY DONOVAN suffered capital punishment on his last trip to Edinburgh.
But the Celtic right-back has no fear about being pitched in against Hibs tomorrow.
Donovan, 19, struggled as the Hoops lost 3-1 to Hearts in Brendan Rodgers’ final game as boss last month.
It was a tough lesson for the Scotland Under-21 star as the Premiership leaders deservedly won at Tynecastle.
Yet Donovan views that setback as a positive and believes it’s made him more prepared for tough away games.
The teenager was a standout in Celts’ superb 3-1 Europa League win over Feyenoord on Thursday, and hopes to keep his place at Easter Road today.
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Donovan said: “It was good to find out I was starting on Thursday. I hadn’t played much since the Hearts defeat, and that wasn’t one of my best games.
“For Martin O’Neill to put me in against Feyenoord was really good and it showed that he has trust in me.
“It was up to me to show my football again and it went well.
“Hearts was a setback, but looking back, it was probably good that it happened.
“As a young player, it’s not going to all be perfect when you are playing well and winning games every week.
“I had a good start to my season, but there was always going to be a bump for me.
“I feel the experience at Tynecastle has made me a lot stronger and I’m raring to go again now.
“Personally, it’s about getting as many minutes as I can and getting on the pitch as much as I can. I need to keep improving.
“I’m still a young player and the senior guys here are still helping me out.
“They are giving me as many pointers as they can, but I need to keep getting minutes.”
Donovan soaked up every second of Celtic’s rare midweek triumph on the road in Europe.
The Hoops hadn’t won away from home on the continent in four years, and they hadn’t tasted victory in the Netherlands since 2001.
But O’Neill masterminded a massive win against Robin van Persie’s struggling side.
Donovan was excellent at right-back as he was picked ahead of Tony Ralston, and he revealed he always felt Celts could get a result in Rotterdam.
He added: “It was a really good performance and win.
“Going over there, we knew we could get something out of the game.
“We watched Feyenoord on the clips and we could see they are a good team. But we felt we could come back with something and we did.
“It was a good performance. It was up there with our best of the season.
“To get the three points was really pleasing.
“They scored a good goal to go ahead, but I felt we had settled into the game well.
“Even before Feyenoord scored, we’d had chances and corners and were all over them. It was a good goal and a good finish for their opener, but the momentum was with us.
“I felt we could get something and to get two goals before half-time was massive.”
Celtic are likely to need four more points to get through to the Europa League knockout stage, with Roma, Bologna and Utrecht to come.
It won’t be easy, but Donovan insists the belief is surging through the Hoops squad after a stormy start to the season.
He said: “Feyenoord was a very big win for us in terms of looking to go further in the competition.
“We now have two home games and the trip to Bologna to hopefully get what we need to progress.”
The champions are also picking up momentum domestically, as they chase Hearts in the title race and prepare for the Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren on December 14.
However, the Hoops rarely get it easy at Easter Road and Donovan knows they will have to be at their very best today.
He added: “We are getting some momentum now and we are full of confidence.
“The performances have been good recently and even against St Mirren last week, we fought until the end and got the win.
“We have a lot of belief and it’s up to us to take that into Hibs and all the other games.
“It feels like we have a game every day right now!
“Hibs are a good team and Easter Road is always a tough place to go.
“They will put up a good fight against us, but we just need to stick together as a team and perform like we did against Feyenoord. We’ve been playing well and we just need to keep that going.”
Donovan and Ralston have been sharing right-back duties with first-choice Alistair Johnston out for months.
But the teenager came close to a serious injury himself while on Scotland Under-21 duty in Gibraltar.
Donovan said: “I feared the worst as I got a bad challenge on my ankle.
“At that moment, it was very sore and I was taken to hospital.
“It was a shock for my family watching the game on YouTube as you could see me being taken into the ambulance. They were all nervous, but thankfully it was OK.
“The physios were really good. They took me for a scan immediately.
“Nothing came up thankfully and then when I landed back in Scotland Tim Williamson at Celtic had a look at it too and said I’d be OK.
“I was very relieved as we have a lot of injuries right now and I feared I’d be joining the list.
“But it worked out and I was able to get back quickly.”
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