It has been an unforgettable debut season for Melbourne City’s Patrick Beach. Ahead of Friday night’s Isuzu UTE A-League Semi-Final first leg, the rookie spoke to aleagues.com.au about why he chose football and a stint abroad.
How many times have you heard stories about players being thrown into the nets as a goalkeeper? Lack of numbers, filling a void or stumbling into the position by chance. It is an all too familiar tale.
Growing up, players more often than not, are craving goals. Not Patrick Beach. He’s different.
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In fact, the Melbourne City shot-stopper asked to be a goalkeeper in his teenage years.
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“It is rare,” Beach told aleagues.com.au ahead of Friday night’s Semi-Final first leg against Western United at AAMI Park. “Those are the ones that end up loving it.
“When they love going in there, when everyone else doesn’t want to be in there, then they’re the ones that can make a career out of it and go far by just loving being in that type of position.”
Around under-13 or under-14 level, Beach was a centre-back and left-back, before the highly-rated goalkeeper pursued the “rare” positional change.
“I started pretty late compared to others,” he said amid a memorable debut professional season which has seen him play every single minute of City’s Isuzu UTE A-League campaign.
“I always had a love for goalkeeping. My dad was a goalkeeper when I was younger, not at a high level, but he was a goalkeeper, and (we) sort of had something in common.
“I just sort of asked to go in goals at the end of sessions at that time, and loved it, was doing well with it, and didn’t look back since.”
Part of Beach’s draw to goalkeeping also comes from his upbringing, playing both football and softball.
Before making the permanent switch to football in his teens, he was playing softball in summer along with his brother. It was a sport his mother “played her whole life”.
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That experience as a short-stop, in Beach’s eyes, had him perfectly primed for a career as a goalkeeper.
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“I felt with the softball background that’s all based off hand-eye coordination and sharp reflexes, because I was playing in-field, and softball is a very fast game, especially in the men’s department,” he said.
“I knew I had very good reactions, and loved stopping shots, being able to make those quick-impact moments.
“I asked for that. I wanted to go in that direction. One of my coaches in my main team was very supportive of that and said yeah go for it.
“Some others weren’t, didn’t really want me to. They just saw me as a centre-back and said that’s your position, stay there. But (I) managed to prove them all wrong.”
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Beach has not looked back since; that decision has created one of the most exciting young goalkeepers in the A-Leagues and Australian football.
The Sydney native has been on the radar for many years, prior to making the switch to Melbourne City in 2023 – a move based on winning “every single trophy possible”.
His first experience in an A-Leagues environment came at Central Coast Mariners.
In Gosford, the youngster spent two years training with the first team as Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo ended the club’s 10-year title drought in 2022-23.
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That duo are now preparing for a blockbuster UEFA Europa League final with Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham against Premier League rivals Manchester United.
“They were both very in-depth and smart coaches,” Beach recalled. “They had the squad all going in the same direction, and everyone knew what the coaches wanted.
“I think Serg was tactically a top, top coach. He could speak in six or seven different languages, and could sort of go throughout the team with all different players that couldn’t speak a certain language, and he’d just break down to each player exactly what they wanted in this exact session in all different languages.
“They were top coaches. They got the results with the team, and just being able to work with them every day, and the players there as well was a great experience.”
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It was also in that Mariners period when Beach embarked on an unfamiliar journey.
Four years ago, the goalkeeper spent a year abroad at three different clubs, including Ipswich Town. However, he could not stay as he had no UK or European passport.
First, Beach spent six months at Larne FC in Northern Ireland before a couple of months at Dundalk FC in the Republic of Ireland. The passport issue prevented him from staying, so he had to come home.
Then, he landed at Ipswich, who were playing in England’s third tier at the time before they reached the Premier League at the start of 2024-25.
“That was a dream,” Beach said. “Unfortunately I already knew that probably couldn’t last.”
“(I was) training with the first team there, and also training with the U23s every day. That was awesome.”
Beach added: “It’s just a different world over there in terms of the standards, but also just the professionalism and seeing that over there as a young kid.
“Just how they were training, lifestyle and how they go about their business. It was great to take on and absorb that as a youngster. And bring that back to Australia and still having a clear mind of what the footballing world is like over there as well.”
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Beach has bottled up that experienced and brought it into his rookie campaign with City in 2024-25.
He has been an ever-present for Aurelio Vidmar’s team, who not only secured second spot in the regular season but qualified for the lucrative 2025-26 AFC Champions League Elite.
This season, only Auckland FC counterpart Alex Paulsen (12) has kept more clean sheets than Beach (11), while he ranks first for clearances (36) and third for save percentage (73.4%).
Now, Beach is embarking on his first Isuzu UTE A-League Semi-Final.
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“I approach every game as my biggest game, to be honest, and that’s the mindset I’ve always had.
“It’s a big game, I understand that. Really excited for it. It’s the games you want to be a part of. I understand the size of the game in comparison to the season.”
