BRADFORD darts ace Joe Cullen was in action on the PDC ProTour in Wigan this week.

He made a disappointing start on Tuesday, at event 20 of this year's Players Championship, where he was beaten heavily by popular veteran Steve Beaton.

Having turned 60 in April, Beaton has already decided to retire at the end of this season, but he can still play, and he thumped Wyke native Cullen 6-1 in the pair’s last-128 clash this weekend.

It was not the greatest game in truth, with both players averaging under 85, neither man finishing well.

Cullen did level up early on at 1-1 but that was as good as it got for the Bradfordian, with a particularly appalling fourth leg seeing the duo both average under 66.

Beaton was bundled out by Chris Landman in the next round and the tournament was won by teenage sensation Luke Littler, who beat Stephen Bunting 8-7 in a thrilling final.

Event 21 took place yesterday, and Wyke man Cullen made a better start, edging to a thrilling 6-5 win against Northern Irishman Nathan Rafferty.

Averaging over 90 during the tournament, Cullen was in much better form second time around, but his Wigan trip was ended by France’s Thibaut Tricole in the last-64.

Another decent contest went against Cullen on this occasion, as he lost 64.

Tricole went on to make the last-16, where he was beaten by the previous day’s losing finalist Bunting.

The final ended up being between Dave Chisnall, who won the previous European Tour event, in Belgium, earlier this month and Michael van Gerwen.

The Dutch superstar came out on top in a superb showpiece, winning 8-4.

Chisnall was unlucky to lose, having averaged a shade over 100, but he could not live with the in-form van Gerwen.

The Dutchman recorded a mammoth 106.67 over the 12 legs of the match and was thoroughly deserving of his title.

As for Cullen, his next challenge comes on the European Tour, as he travels to Budapest for the Hungarian Darts Trophy, which gets underway tomorrow.