Huddersfield Town concern may be growing over £1.2m investment after FA Cup embarrassment | OneFootball

Bojan Radulovic has had a tough time of things at The John Smith's Stadium so far

Friday night is not a moment that anyone of a Huddersfield Town persuasion will want to remember in a hurry.

In the opening game of the first round of this season's FA Cup, the League One side made the trip to Staffordshire to take on Tamworth.

Up against a side only promoted to the National League last season on national TV, the Terriers will have been desperate to avoid an upset.

However, Michael Duff's side failed to do that. On the stroke of half-time, Chris Maxwell found himself in trouble, when attempting to deal with Tom Tonks' long throw into the box.

The Terriers goalkeeper could do little more than direct the ball into his own net, which proved to be enough to secure a memorable 1-0 win for Tamworth.

It was an evening made up of a number of below-par performances from those in Huddersfield shirts, one of which was Bojan Radulovic.

A frustrating night for the Terriers striker

After missing out on a place in the matchday squad for his side's league win over Exeter City last time out, Radulovic was restored to the starting XI for the clash with Tamworth.

In a change from some of his recent outings, the Serbian found himself being partnered by Danny Ward in attack against the National League side.

However, the Huddersfield centre-forward pair struggled to get on the same wavelength in the first half, with neither ever really posing a threat to the Tamworth goal.

Indeed, the one time Radulovic did have a chance to get on the scoresheet, he found himself on his heels and unable to reach the ball at the back post, when doing so would have given him a tap in.

Even with West Brom loanee Callum Marshall replacing Ward at half-time in that game, it was a similar story after the break, with Radulovic still unable to work Tamworh 'keeper Jas Singh.

By the time the 24-year-old was substituted with six minutes of normal time remaining, he had managed just one shot, which was blocked, in the whole game.

As a result, it could be argued that this defeat has continued an increasingly worrying for Huddersfield, when it comes to Radulovic.

Huddersfield still waiting for Radulovic to fire

The striker of course, made the move to the John Smith's Stadium in the January transfer window, with the Terriers reportedly paying £1.2million for his services.

At the time he signed, Radulovic had just enjoyed an impressive spell with HJK Helsinki, in which he scored 36 goals in 78 appearances in all competitions for the Finnish giants.

Huddersfield would have been hoping for the striker to immediately replicate that form in Yorkshire, as they looked to avoid relegation from the Championship.

However, Radulovic could muster just a single goal in 11 league appearances for the Terriers in the second-half of last season, as they slipped down into League One.

Those at the club may therefore, at least have hoped that the drop-down a level could have helped the striker find his feet in front of goal, against opposition he may have been able to exploit more.

There may have also been a hope that a new manager in Michael Duff, may have brought more out of the Serbian as well.

As of yet though, that has not really happened, with the striker scoring just once - in a 3-1 win over Bristol Rovers - in eight league games for Huddersfield since the start of the campaign.

As a result, a clash with a side two divisions below the Terriers in the FA Cup could have been the perfect opportunity for Radulovic to build some confidence and momentum.

But given the match ended with the striker having been unable to even work Singh in the Tamworth goal, it may well be the case that this will have had the opposite effect on his morale.

Indeed, those at Huddersfield may also be wondering just what they need in order to get the 24-year-old firing in the way he was in Finland.

Beyond the on-field concerns around that, the fee they apparently paid to sign the Serb is not an insignificant sum for clubs at that level.

The main way for a striker to repay that is of course through goals, which Radulovic is not doing consistently at this moment in time.

Consequently, that is also going to make it harder for them to cash in on their investment in the transfer market, with clubs likely wary about signing a striker with his recent record.

With all that in mind, tit would be no surprise if the form of Radulovic is high on the list of things for Huddersfield to consider, in the wake of that FA Cup defeat to Tamworth.