NEWPORT County defender Lee Baker admits he feels like he’s been cursed since his summer move to Spytty Park.

The left-back has yet to play a competitive game for the Exiles and is definitely ruled out of Saturday’s visit of his old club Kidderminster Harriers – a situation he describes as “ridiculously frustrating.”

After recovering from glandular fever, which forced him to miss a large chunk of pre-season, Baker picked up a niggling foot injury in the final friendly against Gloucester City and has had to sit and watch as his teammates made a stuttering start to life in the Conference.

The injury was the result of an innocuous challenge at Cheltenham’s Whaddon Road ground and Baker can’t believe his bad luck.

“It’s been a nightmare for me since I got here,” said the 21-year-old.

“First the glandular fever and now this, which is taking a lot longer than it should to clear up.

“It’s ridiculously frustrating, particularly as I’ll miss the game on Saturday, which was the one I looked for when the fixtures came out.

“It was in the last minute against Gloucester and I just got my foot sandwiched between Ollie Thorne and their centre forward,” he explained.

“There is no break but because there’s soft tissue damage where the toes bend to run it’s very tender and I’ve been told I just have to let it heal.

“I’m going for another scan this week so I don’t know when I’ll be back but hopefully it won’t be long because I’m itching to get back on the pitch.”

Fitness concerns aside, Baker has enjoyed his short time at County so far and he’s impressed with the team spirit that manager Dean Holdsworth has fostered.

“The team spirit is brilliant, I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said the ex-West Brom and Kidderminster man. “Everyone gets on and that’s unheard of in football. It’s going to be massive for us this season because, even though we haven’t started as well as we would have liked, we’ll stick together and work for each other.”

Tuesday’s performance at Luton was fantastic and we can build on that,” added Baker.

“Kiddy are a good side and will play good football under Steve Burr but so do we and with a bit of luck we can get our first win.”

Baker is one of five former Harriers men in the County squad and, while he will miss out, Paul Bignot, Sam Foley, Robbie Matthews and Darryl Knights will be hoping to make an impact against their old club.

Forward Knights agrees that the Worcestershire outfit will prove tough opposition but he believes that one win will kick-start County’s season.

“It won’t be easy but we showed at Luton that we can compete,” said the 22-year-old.

“Once we get our first win we’ll kick on from there and I think we’ll have a good season as long as we keep our heads down and keep improving.”

Knights has been restricted to cameos from the bench in the league so far this season and is eager to show the amber army what he can do.

“I’ve not come here to sit on the bench but I know I’ll get my chance soon and it’s up to me to take it,” he added. “I can create and score goals but we’ve got great players here and I’ll have to bide my time.”