Joe Cullen admits “head loss” against Mensur Suljovic but stands by “cheating” claims

Joe Cullen admits he suffered a “head loss” following his defeat to Mensur Suljovic at the World Darts Championship but has doubled down on accusing his opponent of “cheating”. 

Cullen was beaten 3-1 by Suljovic in a fiery second round contest on Sunday, appearing visibly irate with the Austrian’s methodical approach on stage before taking to social media to accuse him of cheating.

Cullen posted on X: ‘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.’

Cullen, who won the first set in three straight legs before missing set darts in the third and fourth set, suffered his earliest exit at Alexandra Palace since 2019/20.

The Yorkshireman has since spoken out in-depth about the incident, standing by his comments over the apparent slow pace and over-celebrating from Suljovic.

“It was a bit of a head loss from myself afterwards, though I still don’t agree with what Mensur does,” Cullen told the Telegraph and Argus.

“I know he plays that way most of the time, but he was worse than usual.

“He even got warned by the referee, which I’ve never seen before, so I can point my finger at Mensur and say he was an ars**ole.

“But ultimately, Mensur was poor and I let it affect me, which is more of a gripe on my part.”

Asked if he regretted accusing Suljovic of cheating, Cullen replied: “I still personally think it is cheating.

“I’ve always said it since I started playing, if you’re doing something to deliberately affect the other player, I stand by believing that’s cheating.

“I’ve always got on with Mensur pretty well, so it was disappointing.

“He knew exactly what he was doing and he did exactly what I expected, just a little bit worse.

“Ultimately he was very poor and that’s the most frustrating thing for myself, because I should win that game comfortably.”

Cullen, who averaged 86.5 to Suljovic’s 82 in a gruelling contest, added: “I’ve been playing for a long time now and I think it was one of those games where I just got frustrated.

“Missing darts frustrates you even more, so it was a combination of things, Mensur doing what he did was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

“Now I’ve had a couple of days to reflect, the most frustrating thing for me is that I shouldn’t have lost the game.

“It shouldn’t even have been close.”

The 36-year-old will end the season outside of the world’s top 32 and admits he is looking forward to taking a break: “I can’t wait to be honest.

“I’ve not got any tournaments now until the end of January (the Winmau World Masters) so I might look at going on holiday next month.

“Even if I don’t, I’ll just be spending time at home.

“The door of my practice room will definitely be shut for the next four weeks.”