"Against Chizzy you know exactly what you're up against" - Joe Cullen ready for tough German Darts Championship contest

Joe Cullen is through to round 3 at the 2024 German Darts Championship. On Saturday in Hildesheim, 'The Rockstar' came through the challenge of home crowd favourite Max Hopp.

Cullen did good business at the beginning of the match by taking a 3-0 lead. However, the Englishman then fell off scoring wise and saw Hopp come back to 3-3. The next three legs went with the darts, making the score 5-4 in favour of Cullen after nine legs. Hopp then had three chances to force a deciding leg, but failed on the doubles each time. Cullen punished these misses with a 98 finish, putting a 6-4 final score on the scoreboard.

"I'm just happy to get the win by any means necessary," reflected the former Premier League Darts finalist on stage afterwards. "It was terrible and that's just a perfect example of his nerves rubbing off on me. But, it is one of them you know, Max has beaten me on German stages before and vice versa so like I say, I'm just happy to get through."

"Tomorrow (Sunday ed.) is a different day and we'll go again, see what happens," adds Cullen, who will face Dave Chisnall this Sunday afternoon. "Max has done so much for German Darts, he's been a great ambassador over the years. But against Chizzy you know exactly what you're up against."