Wanderers forward Simon Cox has been caught between a rock and a hard place.
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To either finish off the season with the club or travel back to his home in the United Kingdom to witness the birth of his first child.
Either way, the decision was always going to be a difficult one and last week Cox had confirmed that he was staying with the Red & Black in Western Sydney.
It is the ultimate sacrifice by Cox who believes it is the best decision for him and his family.
“It was a tough decision, it was a long process to get to the decision and it was a decision that was never going to be taken lightly,” explained Cox.
“Just the way the world is at the minute, it just wasn’t going to be possible for me to get home and back and finish off the season.
“The United Kingdom is looking at putting in hotel quarantine too so I would have to do two weeks there and then probably miss the birth, then come back and do another two weeks. It was just something that we were not willing to do as a family, so we made the decision that my missus would have the baby and we’ll try to do as much as we can to get her out here.”
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Having played on his mind closer as it got to the impending birth, Cox was determined to still be a professional and do the best he could for the club.
“When it’s your first child, it’s the only thing you think about, but you have to be professional and you have to come in everyday, train well and do the best you can,” said Cox.
“The closer it got to the due date, it’s the only thing. It’s making sure she is healthy and all the scans are well, but ultimately you’re a passenger.”
Cox and the Wanderers have been determined to get the season off to a strong start, changing the narrative of previous seasons.
With plenty of new faces joining the club this season, Cox is confident that the side will continue to improve as time goes on.
“You saw in the Macarthur game that we were still a work in progress, obviously the new boys had come in and only trained a couple of days,” said Cox.
“As we’ve not sort of progressed and got further into the season, the boys have gotten fitter and now we’re starting to showcase what we’re all about.
“Obviously, we can continue to improve, and we will, but we’re still a work in progress and I hope we continue in the good form of reign we’re in.”
The Red & Black will be facing a familiar Newcastle Jets tonight with Cox using their previous match experience and history to his advantage.
“They will be a different team, now with a bit of confidence after winning the other night so we’ll be fully prepared for that,” said Cox.
“It was only a couple of weeks ago that we played them so we know everything about them.
“The manager and Kenny know everything about them pretty much, it’s a team that they put together so we know everything about them and we will do our due diligence on them to make sure that we are fully prepared.”
