Cheshunt Development - Theobalds Lane Academy Pitch

Cheshunt Development

Theobalds Lane Academy Pitch

Theobalds Lane

Cheshunt

Waltham Cross 

Hertfordshire

EN8 8RU

Official Website

FAFT Page

Ground Number: 1458

Thursday 21st August 2025

Cheshunt Development 5-4 Allenburys Sports
Herts Senior County Premier

CHESHUNT FC DEVELOPMENT - A BRIEF HISTORY

Cheshunt Development is the reserve side of Cheshunt FC, a member of the Isthmian Premier League, which was founded in 1946. They have been known under various names during their existence, including Cheshunt Ambers, Cheshunt A, Cheshunt Reserves & Cheshunt Development. The first record I can find of them was their single season in the Spartan South Midland League during the 2007/08 season, where they finished 10th out of 19. Five seasons were then spent in the Capital League's East & Central divisions, with the highlight seeing them win the Eastern Division in 2013. With that league soon to be defunct, Cheshunt spent a couple of seasons in the Herts Senior County Division 1 between 2013 & 2015, where they finished in mid-table. Time was then spent in the Isthmian League's Development Division, again with mid-table finishes. Last season, the team joined the Herts Senior County Premier, where they finished 10th.

The town of Cheshunt itself had the supermarket giant Tesco based there until 2016. The local economy includes logistics, retail, business parks, and hospitality, and is transforming with major developments such as Cheshunt Lakeside, Brookfield Riverside, and a £1 billion Google data centre. Famous people to have been born in or attended school in Cheshunt include Cliff Richard, Victoria Beckham, David Bentley and Linda Lusardi. It is 13 miles north of central London and has a population of around 44,000. On 12 August 1944, a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber (serial number 42-95023) of the United States Army Air Forces crashed near Maxwells Farm in Cheshunt, killing all ten crew members aboard. The crew's bravery, particularly pilot Lieutenant Ellis, who diverted the aircraft to avoid the town, is commemorated in the naming of Lieutenant Ellis Way. A memorial plaque was unveiled in 2010 near the crash site at the entrance to St Mary's School, honouring the American crew's sacrifice.

MY VISIT

From my game at Long Lane, it was a single bus to the O2 Arena to visit the Stargazer Spoons. Entry and exit were very secure, meaning this was anything but a flying visit. It was a great Spoons, and I got my blog up in comfortable surroundings. Getting out of the place required Ronnie Biggs' levels of escapism, though and then a long wait for the train to make one stop was frustrating. The Ledger Building was a fair walk from the station, too, but it was good value. It was a longer-than-expected cross-London journey thanks to inaccuracies on Google Maps, but I made the 19:57 from Marylebone by the skin of my teeth. Ultimately, I was back home just after 9 PM and had a final pint and a Pizza before bed. An excellent day all in all, though I was home later than ideal.

It was work once more on Sunday, a mixed day, but I didn't mind much. It was football after, a revisit to Wokingham Town for their game against Larkhall Athletic. I had to get petrol near there, a few pence a litre more, as work had run out. The cheesy chips were nice, the game was not the greatest, but it was a good giant-killing as Wokingham Town won 2-0. It was a tiring Monday at work. I used the evening to start cracking on my blogs, including this one. There were ten or eleven sets of club history to research for the weekend. It was a great night of sleep on Monday, although I got up in the middle; I think I must have slept for ten hours in all. In the morning, I had a five-mile walk around my local area, as I knew I'd be walking to Wycombe later. It was all going well until a disappointing dinner and an underwhelming performance from Wycombe, as we lost 1-0 to spreadsheet Exeter. As is often the case, the pre-match pub was the highlight. I didn't get much sleep and so felt like dirt the next day.

Wednesday evening saw yet more work on this weekend's blogs and a better night's sleep. Thursday still dragged like hell, though, as I looked forward to my first consecutive days off since early June. I clocked off an hour early in the end, and this gave me time to go home and put a wash on as well as get ready for the upcoming weekend. I left at 3.40 and it took around an hour to get there. We parked up and walked through a nice park to Wetherspoons. That didn't last long, giving way to a noisy dual carriageway before a horrible building site of a town, smelly too. The pub was well-worn and busy, but service was good. Fish curry with sides was £9.99, including a pint of Black Dragon. You got plenty for your money, but it wasn't as good as other things on the menu. The Katsu is definitely the pick of the curries in Spoons. It was just over 20 minutes back to the ground where we met alleged sock fetishist Dan, along with lots of other hoppers.

 

Cheshunt sat in a mid-table position of 9th. They'd thumped St Margaretsbury 5-0 on Saturday and also shared an incredible 5-5 draw with Hinton, as well as a 0-0 at Buntingford. Allenburys sat at the bottom of the league, having lost all three games. As well as the narrow 3-2 defeat at Westmill, I was at last Thursday, they had also lost 5-0 at Hinton and 3-0 to Cockfosters. The game kicked off ten minutes early, so I was glad to be there. Though Allenburys had the better of the opening ten minutes, it was Cheshunt who took the lead with a lob over the keeper. It was 2-0 after 14 minutes, a good low finish. A goal was pulled back on 18 minutes with a close-range finish. It was then 3-1 to Cheshunt, a penalty awarded for an obvious trip. On 33 minutes, Allenburys pulled another back with a deflected shot. On 37, it was 3-3, a, rocket into the back of the net from the edge of the area. The goalfest was an antidote to the utter tripe that Wycombe served up. Cheshunt led 4-3 around ten minutes into the second half, thanks to a low shot from the edge of the area. On 65 minutes, it was 4-4, a good low shot. Cheshunt went 5-4 up on 78 minutes with a scrambled effort, and this turned out to be the winner. Sadly, no scorer information was available when I put this blog up, but it had been a cracking game in front of an official crowd of 85.

THE GROUND

THEOBALDS LANE ACADEMY PITCH is part of a huge complex that has a large number of pitches and more parking than they could ever use. Facilities available included a decent food hut, although the stadium bar opens sometimes. The pitch itself is fully railed and has a couple of dugouts but no cover for fans.