Chelsea goalkeeper Eddie Beach is happy over his loan wit Chelmsford City.

The summer arrival from Southampton is currently with Chelmsford, having made the move in January.

Beach told Chelsea's website, "Keepers are expected to play for longer, and break through later. You don't often see keepers breaking through at 17, 18, 19 or even 20 into Premier League or Championship first teams.

"You have to go through a process of proving yourself in senior football before being given that chance. Every goalkeeper who has gone through an academy in England has proven you have to go out on loan.

"And everyone has a different route. Nick Pope was in step four of non-league, he broke through really late. Other guys have done it different. Look at Edou Mendy's story, taking time out. With goalkeeping it's very intriguing because the journeys are in such contrast to outfielders."

Beach knows experience is vital for a young goalkeeper, pointing out they can't accrue minutes off the bench like their team-mates further upfield. To play, they have to start.

"The big thing for me is getting them on the ladder," adds Ross Turnbull, once Petr Cech's back-up and now a loan goalkeeper technical coach at Chelsea.

"It's about trying to find a game programme for all those goalkeepers in the system. Training is all good, but you learn more from games. If Eddie had stayed with us he would have played three or four games in that period, now he has played 14.

"With them being part-time it allows him to train with us, too. That's a plus. He still gets the level of coaching from us, but he gets a bigger games programme at Chelmsford, with bigger attendances, and more pressure in terms of winning games."