JOE Cullen was left cursing at the German Darts Open over the weekend, suffering an early exit when progression was in his grasp.

The tournament was won by Krzysztof Ratajski, who thumped Stephen Bunting 8-3 in the final.

But Bunting could hardly believe his luck when getting past Bradford thrower Cullen in the second round.

Having received a bye to that stage due to his seeding, Cullen soon found himself 4-2 up, and then missed six match darts, which would have seen him avoid a decider.

But with Cullen sat on 72 in the 11th and final leg, Bunting failed to check out 121 in the 11th and final after taking a bizarre checkout route.

The Wyke man then landed the treble 20, leaving him with two darts at double six to go through.

But he missed both to take it to eight match darts squandered, and Bunting polished off the game by checking out on double eight.

Cullen is due to be back in action at the penultimate European Tour event of the year, which is the Hungarian Darts Trophy in Budapest from September 22-24.