BRADFORD darts ace Joe Cullen was in PDC Pro Tour action at the start of this week, with events eight and nine taking place in Leicester on Monday and yesterday.

He was not at his best to start with in the East Midlands, beating Dutch opponent Richard Veenstra 6-4 in his opening match, despite a lower average, less points scored and more darts thrown.

But Cullen was able to find the finishes when it mattered, putting him into the last-64.

The Wyke star then went on to beat darts’ great entertainer, Ricky Evans, 6-3, landing three 180 finishes on his way to an impressive average of 96.48.

That put him into a last-32 encounter against talented Czech Karel Sedlacek, in what proved to be a remarkable encounter.

The Bradfordian was well on top for most of the game, winning one leg in 13 darts and two others in 15, averaging over 100 in all three, to move into a commanding 5-2 lead.

He needed just one more leg to reach the last-16, but faltered badly.

Cullen was still 5-4 up when he needed to take out 63 to win the match, but fell short, only managing 51.

But with the Wyke ace sat on D6 for his next throw, the nerveless Sedlacek produced a 78 checkout to level the scores.

Sedlacek was on top on the deciding leg and though Cullen fought back to leave double 18 for the match, the Czech stayed calm to take out 25 for the win.

Perhaps the Bradford star was affected by throwing victory away the day before, but he was not at the races in yesterday’s Pro Tour event.

The 22nd seed came up against the unfancied Stephen Burton, but averaged well under 80 in the opening two legs to gift his opponent an early lead.

Cullen was still in the game, but his resolve was surely broken when Burton produced a stunning 11-dart finish to go 4-1 up, despite the Bradford man averaging 110 in that fifth leg.

Burton cantered on to a 6-2 victory, leaving Cullen time to lick his wounds ahead of the third PDC European Tour event of the season, which is the International Darts Open in Riesa, Germany, which starts this Friday.