BRADFORD darts ace Joe Cullen roared back into the form earlier this month on the PDC Pro Tour, but he failed to back that performance up this week.

Returning to the scene of his final defeat in Milton Keynes to Josh Rock three weeks ago, Cullen was taking part in Players Championship 18 and 19.

The first of those events took place on Thursday, and Cullen began with a 6-4 win over Croatia’s Boris Krcmar in his opener.

The Wyke ace raced into an early 3-1 lead, and was able to hold his opponent at arm’s length thereafter and get the job done.

But Cullen came unstuck in his next encounter, a last-64 clash with Matthew Dennant.

The Bradfordian fell 2-1 and 4-3 behind, but was a leg away from victory when he managed to sneak 5-4 in front.

But Dennant levelled, then took out D16 to win the match, Cullen’s favourite finish and the very one the Wyke man was poised to take out had his opponent failed to close out victory.

Dennant did not get much futher, bundled out in the last-32 by Dutch superstar Michael van Gerwen, with Players Championship 18 eventually won by Damon Heta.

The Australian was in sensational form in the final, thumping Ryan Searle 8-3 with a mammoth average of 106.80.

In Players Championship 19, Cullen fell at the first hurdle, losing to Nathan Rafferty.

The Bradford man went 2-1 in front against his Northern Irishman and it was still anyone’s game at 3-3.

But Rafferty reeled off three straight legs to claim victory, with Cullen only averaging 85.56 for the match.

It ended up being a good tournament for unfancied youngster Rafferty who made it all the way to the quarter-finals, seeing off van Gerwen along the way.

But he lost 6-3 to France’s Thibaut Tricole in the last-eight, who was in turn beaten 7-6 by Scotland’s Cameron Menzies after an epic semi-final.

The showpiece was a high-quality affair between Menzie and Chris Dobey, but it was the latter who came out on top, taking the title back to Tyneside with an 8-6 victory.

Both players averaged over 100 in the final, a fitting way to round off two days of exciting action in Milton Keynes.