County star Matt Baker is ready to swipe away weeks of injury torment to re-ignite a Wales international dream that the sceptics thought was rubble in a lower-league survival battle.
Four Christmases ago and Kent-born defender Baker was a rising talent in the managerial turmoil at Stoke City, a Welsh U-21 cap, most certainly deeply entrenched in the mindset of then Dragons boss Rob Page, an outside bet as a wildcard in his country's Qatar-bound World Cup party.
This Boxing Day, Baker, now 22, will strap on the body armour in preparation for Newport's League Two dog-fight with Barnet at Rodney Parade - with the quest of ending County's nine-month wait for three points in their own back yard.
Baker, though, is already mentally hardened by the two months a damaged hamstring prevented him helping team-mates, with the second-worst defence in the Football League, and clearly struggling in their section.
He said, "Of course it was very tough seeing the side needing help and me not being able to do anything because of injury. I got injured in the 1-0 win at Accrington in October. I stayed on the pitch because I didn't feel any pain from the hamstring - but felt plenty of discomfort later."
Fit-again Baker is primed to help County blast off their section's trap door in the four vital dates between December 26 and January 4. First up the Bees, followed by the visit of Crewe and Tranmere, with an away trip to Bromley on New Year's Day.
County are winless in seven league games and Baker declared, "Everyone knows we have to get some points on the board.. We need to that first home win and that could set us off on a little run - this can start against Barnet on Boxing Day.
"Beating Barnet will lift everyone at the club, it could be the start of us turning everything around. A win can set us off on a little run."
Baker believes his best days are ahead of him after leaving Stoke - the club's ever revolving managerial door seeing Michael O'Neill, Alex Neil, Steven Schumacher hired and fired before Spaniard Naras Pelach offered Newport's centre-back a new deal in his brief time at the Bet 365 Stadium.
Said Baker, "I needed to play games and that is what I am doing at County after initially coming to the club on loan a few years back. There was no doubt in my mind that my career needed to go in another direction."
Baker, who makes his 99th league start against Barnet, still has a burning ambition to win full international caps for Wales, having been capped at U-21 level.
The defender draws from the inspiration of Newcastle's England defender Dan Burn, capped at 32 and former Leicester City Premiership title and FA Cup winner Jamie Vardy, capped by the Three Lions after rising from non-league Stocksbridge Park Swifts via Halifax, Fleetwood and a medical splint making factory job to a millionaire lifestyle at now Serie A Cremonese.
Said Baker, "Football does throw up different stories. May journeys are so different. Dan Burn has returned to Newcastle, his first club after many different experiences, including playing non-league in the North East. You have to say both Dan and Jamie are inspirations to players. They kept going and never gave up. That inspires me totally.
"I feel my strongest days are in front of me. This is still the start of my journey, which I hope will see me get stronger through experience of games."