Joe Cullen has responded with fury after being dumped out of the World Darts Championship by Mensur Suljovic, saying the Austrian's behaviour on stage is "not darts".
Cullen was visibly unhappy with Suljovic's pace of play and celebrations throughout the match as the 53-year-old came from a set down to beat the Bradford arrowsmith 3-1 in their second-round clash at Alexandra Palace on Sunday afternoon.
Suljovic triumphed despite averaging 81.95 to Cullen's 86.53 and 'The Gentle' also only hit 23.7 per cent of his darts at double, to 44.4 per cent from Cullen.
'The Rockstar' was unhappy with the length of time his opponent was taking to recover his darts, and the time he was taking to celebrate, with referee Kirk Bevans even forced to intervene.
As Cullen left the stage, he stopped, turned and gave Suljovic a hard stare as the former World Matchplay runner-up celebrated with the crowd.
Cullen, the 32nd seed, made his displeasure clear, taking to X to write: "If that's darts, I don't want no part of it! Always liked Mensur away from the board but that was plain for all to see!
"I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way. The old guard will say it's part of the game but word it how you will - it's CHEATING! That's not darts."
Veteran Suljovic said he had not apologised to Cullen following their match during his press conference.
"I say sorry, maybe, to the referee maybe, but for Joe Cullen? Never. 'You play this, you play this', everybody plays different," said the Austrian.
"I wait maybe 40 seconds before first dart, but some guys (gestures throwing motion) and my head (gestures almost being hit in the head by a dart). This is not okay."
Three-time Lakeside champion and former Premier League champion Glen Durrant said Suljovic did not break any rules and acknowledged how he used "gamesmanship" to enable him to defeat the fast-flowing Cullen.
Durrant said: You know what Mensur Suljovic is going to do and we try to portray that on the commentary as well. He can go from being very slow to playing very quickly and maybe he saw like a chink in the armour of Joe Cullen.
"I did see throughout that match that Joe [Cullen] kept his temperament brilliantly well and I can understand both sides. Sometimes we do go on social media just maybe too much in the moments.
"He didn't break any rules - there were no rules broken. The referees spoke to Mensur during it, over an issue, dealt with that perfectly well.
"The bottom line is Joe Cullen had three set darts in that third set. He was winning sets with a 79 average - that should be upsetting Joe Cullen more than what - at times - he's labelled the gamesmanship side of it."
Meanwhile, Dan Dawson reflected on Cullen's frustrations in defeat, saying: "He wasn't playing particularly well but he also allowed Mensur to get away with some really average stuff and you could see by the end the frustrations telling.
"Mensur has broken Joe Cullen's brain in that one. He couldn't stop Mensur at the end."
Suljovic's manager declined to respond to Cullen's social media post when contacted by Your Site News.
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