Bradford darts star Joe Cullen gets big World Grand Prix win

The tournament is darts’ first ranking major since the World Matchplay back in July, and Bradford ace Cullen has been in no sort of form in the intervening period.

But with the Grand Prix being played with a double start format, Cullen told the T&A last week that he felt that was a real leveller.

And so it proved, as despite Tynesider Dobey being in much better form of late, it was his Wyke opponent who won 2-1 to move into a last-16 clash with Daryl Gurney tomorrow night.

Neither player was at their fluent best early on, but Dobey found the finish when it mattered, pinning a brilliant 160 checkout against the throw to take the first set 3-1.

That meant Cullen had to win both of the two remaining sets to go through, and he held his nerve on his own throw nicely.

And that meant when Dobey endured a dreadful fourth leg in the second set, his Bradford rival was on hand to take out 32 and take the game to a decider.

In a surprisingly one-sided finish to the game, it was Cullen who held his nerve.

He went 2-0 up in the third set, before wrapping things up in style, breaking the Geordie once again thanks to a 110 checkout to seal victory.

Chris Dobey had no answer to Joe Cullen's comeback at the World Grand Prix last night. (Image: Kieran Cleeves/PDC.)

The Bradfordian improved as the match went on, finishing with an impressive average of 93.22 compared to Dobey’s 85.05.

Cullen would probably have expected to be facing world number three Michael van Gerwen in the last-16.

But the Dutch superstar was completely off the boil in Leicester last night, failing to win a single leg in the match as Northern Irishman Gurney cruised to a simple 2-0 victory over him.

The winner of the match between Gurney and Cullen will face either Dave Chisnall or Dimitri Van den Bergh in the quarter-finals.