JOE Cullen was left disgusted with his performance on Friday, as he found himself on the wrong end of one of the shock results on this year’s PDC European Tour.

He was competing at the Czech Darts Open against home favourite, but virtual unknown, Pavel Drtil.

Wyke native Cullen had match odds of 7/50 against the 51-year-old, yet his poor display, combined with raucous support for his opponent, saw the Czech pull off a stunning 6-4 win.

Cullen could only average 82.49 to Drtil’s 84.27, while the underdog produced far more visits of over 100, even though the Bradford man landed all three 180s in the match.

The Czech’s highest checkout was only 46, but he made the six he needed to claim victory, before also going on to stun Josh Rock in the next round.

Drtil was eventually knocked out by Kim Huybrechts in the last-16, with the in-form Luke Humphries going on to win the tournament.

It was the final event of the regular season on the European Tour, with the European Championship in Germany now coming up later this week.

Cullen will be looking to find some form in that major, starting with his first-round game against Danny Noppert on Friday night.

He will have to play so much better than against Drtil to have any chance of winning that encounter, admitting after his shock defeat to the Czech: “I want to apologise to all my fans for that performance today, it was not acceptable.

“Everybody loses games but there’s a manner in which to do so and I can’t remember the last time I felt so embarrassed after that one.

“Congrats to Pavel, who produced a memorable moment for himself.”

It rounded off a miserable week for Cullen, who got nowhere last Tuesday and Wednesday in the two Players Championship events in Wigan.

The Bradfordian was dumped out of PC27 on Tuesday, losing 6-4 to Wales’ Callum Goffin in his opener with an awful average of 78.85.

Cullen could not make it past the first round the following day either, but he played better in an entertaining 6-5 defeat to fellow Englishman Robert Grundy.