W HEN opportunity comes knocking, Don Cowie is the type to go and embrace it.

Ross County, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Watford and Cardiff City are not clubs which evoke a world of glamour, but they have been ever-higher base camps on a late developer’s ascent. That his cv includes cameo appearances against Brazil and Spain is evidence that hard work can be rewarded with a glimpse of the stars.

The 28-year-old’s family hail from Helmsdale. A priority of his predecessors might have been avoiding a free transfer to the colonies courtesy of the Duke of Sutherland’s Clearances. Ironic, then, that Cowie’s first Scotland cap was the consequence of an ill-fated Scotland trip to Japan under the auspices of George Burley.

When a full team of players found reasons to withdraw from the squad in 2009, a desperate Burley called Malky Mackay, then manager of Watford, to ask about his midfielder Scott Severin. The conversation drifted to Cowie, who had joined the club from Inverness, and based upon Mackay’s glowing reference the industrious midfielder became a very late addition.

Cowie didn’t quibble. Not only did he fly to the Far East, but -- unlike some who were originally picked -- he actually played, coming on as a second-half substitute for Charlie Adam. Now, under the more organised regime of Craig Levein, the Cardiff midfielder is establishing himself as a regular.

Once again he is in the Scotland squad which will travel to Cyprus next week, having already won six caps this year, including a start in the European Championship qualifier against Lithuania.

“To be involved in these squads is very pleasing, and it’s up to me to try to stay there now,” he says, at Cardiff’s training base in the Vale of Glamorgan. Cowie looks happy and at ease, having settled seamlessly at the club with wife Shelley, the twin sister of Scotland striker Suzanne Grant, and their three-year-old daughter. A second child is due in two months.

Yet if Cowie’s first season at the Cardiff City Stadium is proving a success -- he has scored six goals in 18 appearances and played every minute of every game, barring a Carling Cup tie when he was on Scotland duty -- his first visit there was not.

It came a month after the defeat by Japan, and Cowie was selected by Burley to start against Wales. The dismal 3-0 defeat was the manager’s last, but for Cowie and his family, who had travelled down from the Highlands, it remains a proud day.

The youngest of four sons, the midfielder was brought up in Strathpeffer. His father, also Don, had settled there when he became a player, and later assistant manager, at Ross County. Cowie went through the youth system at Dingwall alongside his brothers, but only when he turned 16 did Skillseeker money become available, which meant the club could afford to offer an apprenticeship.

“I think my brothers could have been footballers too, but they went to university instead,” says Cowie. “We were all into sport and it was a very competitive family. I felt sorry for my mum, because with four boys and my father it was all football.”

Even with his apprenticeship there was no guarantee the teenager would prosper. At only 8½st he was little more than a waif, but full-time training and a growth spurt saved the day. After winning the Challenge Cup with County, Charlie Christie lured him down the road to Inverness. The switch to Watford followed 18 months later.

He had a heady introduction to English football, making his debut in an FA Cup tie against Chelsea, but even before that he was aware of how much his circumstances had changed. “I’d never lived away from the Dingwall and Inverness areas before, so it was quite daunting to move down to Watford,” he says. “Then it snowed for the whole of the first week and I didn’t even manage to get to the training ground. But at least the weather made me think I was back home.”

Crucially, he was taken under the wing of Mackay -- a former Scotland defender -- and when the manager moved to Cardiff in the summer, Cowie duly followed. He is now one of five Scots who regularly start for the Welsh side -- the others are David Marshall, Kevin McNaughton, Craig Conway and Kenny Miller -- so it’s no surprise that he felt comfortable as soon as he arrived.

There is no indication of the fans resenting the Scottish invasion, although with bitter rivals Swansea City now ensconced in the Barclays Premier League, they know what is expected of them.

Despite his age, there is still a boyish enthusiasm about Cowie as he reflects on his new status. “I went in the space of a month from a late call up to starting. When I found myself in the same side as Darren Fletcher, James McFadden, Kenny Miller and the rest, I thought ‘this isn’t bad for a little boy from the Highlands’.”