"That’s up there with the worst performances of my career" – Joe Cullen felt 'embarrassed' in scathing criticism of surprise German Darts Grand Prix loss

Joe Cullen impressed earlier this week by reaching a Players Championship final, but on Saturday evening he suffered a surprise first-round defeat at the German Darts Grand Prix.

In the draw, ‘The Rockstar’ was paired with Patrik Kovacs, a Hungarian qualifier and normally an opponent who should pose no problems for the former Masters champion. However, Cullen went down 6-3 to Kovacs.

Cullen’s level in particular left much to be desired. The Englishman averaged just 82.40, and hit only three of his ten darts at double. Afterward, Cullen didn’t spare himself in a response on social media.

“That’s up there with the worst performances of my career,” Cullen admitted candidly. "Considering how I’ve been playing this year, the work I’ve been putting in and some positive results in recent tournaments , I felt embarrassed up there today! That kind of performance is not acceptable at this level!"

Cullen only just reached yet another ProTour final this week so is in some semblance of form so this is semi a surprise that he wasn't able to add to that with a win and perhaps why he was so down on himself.

He is searching for that elusive ProTour crown too after winning two titles last year amid a bit of an up and down span of his career and this perhaps is the showcase of that.

Kovacs opens up on Sunday in Munich with the Hungarian facing off against Ross Smith in the afternoon session in Munich after completing his seismic upset. While for Cullen it is back to the drawing board after a pretty poor defeat in the latest European Tour and given this tweet one that will stick with him.