JOE Cullen seems to have taken a liking to the World Grand Prix of late, with last night seeing him come from behind to beat Daryl Gurney 3-2 and reach the quarter-finals.

This is darts’ first ranking major since the World Matchplay in July, and Cullen has been in poor form over the last few months.

But the Bradford ace has rolled it back to last year, where he made the last-four of this competition, and has beaten Chris Dobey and Gurney this week.

He will now face Belgium’s Dimitri Van den Bergh in the quarter-finals.

Dobey and Gurney were in form heading into their matches with Cullen, and the Tynesider and the Northern Irishman were leading in those games, yet the Wyke native dug deep to win both.

After beating Dobey 2-1 on Tuesday night, Cullen advanced into a last-16 clash with Gurney, who had won every leg in his stunning, comprehensive opening game win over Dutch superstar Michael van Gerwen.

The Londonderry man kept that rampant run up in the opening set against Cullen, despite the Bradfordian dominating on the averages.

Gurney was far more clinical though, and took out 72 to seal that first set 3-1.

And when the second set was locked at 2-2 on Gurney’s throw, the pressure was on Cullen.

With the Northern Irishman sat on a tempting 56, his Wyke opponent missed two darts at D6 as he tried to complete a 12 checkout, the second of those landing inside the double.

That left Cullen with one shot at D3 to stop himself from almost certainly falling 2-0 down in sets, but he pinned it to level the match, letting out a roar of relief after doing so.

But Gurney ran riot in the third set, taking all three legs with a stunning average of 107 to move 2-1 up in this best-of-five affair.

Cullen responded emphatically in set four, winning that 3-0 himself, including a superb double-double finishing.

Joe Cullen had every reason to smile after fighting hard to come back from a tricky looking deficit against Daryl Gurney.Joe Cullen had every reason to smile after fighting hard to come back from a tricky-looking deficit against Daryl Gurney. (Image: Simon O'Connor/PDC.)

Needing a checkout of 79, a rogue first dart scored him just seven, but he recovered quickly, with a D18 followed immediately by a repeat, as he took the game to a decider.

And Gurney never recovered, as Cullen won the final set 3-0 too, reeling off six successive legs to seal victory.

The Bradford ace will face Van den Bergh in tonight’s last quarter-final, with the winner going on to face either Mike De Decker or James Wade in the semis.

A full report of Cullen's quarter-final (and hopefully semis and final) at the Grand Prix will be live on the T&A website early next week.