Most people would have thought it was a daft bet – putting money on an unknown to finish the league’s leading scorer. But my pre-season wager on Cardiff City’s latest "find" Ross McCormack to top the Championship goalscorers doesn’t look so bad at 40-1 now, does it?

The young Scot gets the ultimate chance to test his prowess tomorrow when the third-placed Bluebirds take on top-of-the-table Wolves at Ninian Park. Sky TV will be there to screen the showdown between three of the division’s top four hitmen – McCormack and Wolves pair Sylvain Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo. And the Cardiff kid will have to go some to live with the sort of goals Ebanks-Blake in particular is capable of.

The quiet, unassuming McCIwelumo, Ebanks-Blakeormack, signed by Cardiff’s canny boss Dave Jones from Motherwell for just a £120,000 compensation fee in June, has already cracked 10 goals in 14 league starts – plus one in the Carling Cup. He’s also proving a master craftsman at set-pieces, at least half his strikes coming from free-kicks and penalties.

At 22, he’s more than filled the gap left by Michael Chopra’s £5million departure to Sunderland – continuing a line of remarkable Cardiff striking discoveries established earlier in the decade through Robert Earnshaw and Cameron Jerome.

Both men were prolific hitmen for the Bluebirds – as demonstrated by the £7m or so the club reaped for the two when they were sold on to West Brom and Birmingham respectively.

Last season, struggling to fill the gap, Jones opted for investing in the vast experience of Robbie Fowler and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink – free transfer signings who were paid a reputed £15,000 a week yet produced relatively little for the money. In fact, one could argue that had McCormack been strutting his stuff in the final instead of Hasselbaink, it may well have been Jones and not Harry Redknapp who lifted the FA Cup back in May.

McCormack certainly saw something in opting for Cardiff over Premier League Wigan and Middlesbrough, who were both on his trail at Fir Park. That something was Fowler – one of his idols – who he was eager to play with but ironically left the club before they got a chance to take the field together.

The 5ft 9in striker, ironically a lifelong Celtic fan, began his career as a Rangers trainee before becoming a full professional at Ibrox.

His two subsequent seasons at Motherwell produced a modest 10 goals in 48 appearances, but his impact at Ninian Park has been truly phenomenal. He already had one senior Scotland cap to add to his 10 for the Under-21s, but with a current strike rate of  two in every three games, there is little doubt a lot more international glory will follow.

His battle with Iwelumo at Ninian Park tomorrow could well go a long way to establishing which of the two is more likely to make an impact in George Burley’s side.

But while Cardiff fans are revelling in the success of their new-found hero, the super Scot’s long-term future at the club doesn’t look so good for them. Cardiff, who are due to move into a new state-of-the-art stadium opposite Ninian Park next season, have always been a selling club.

The fans didn’t want Earnshaw, Jerome or Chopra to go – but money talked, £12m of it in all. And if McCormack continues the sort of form that is so reminiscent of Chopra, I can see another £5m flowing through the Ninian Park coffers before too long. After all, manager Jones has already admitted: ''I wouldn't be surprised if there is interest in Ross when the January transfer window opens.''

If Cardiff can keep their promotion challenge, of course, McCormack might not be tempted. With fellow Cardiff Scots Gavin Rae and Kevin McNaughton stopping him getting homesick, he's clearly settled brilliantly in south Wales - and will no doubt fancy the chance of helping the Bluebirds into the top flight for the first time in nearly half a century.

The Cardiff goal machines:

Robert Earnshaw (1997-2004)– 178  games, 85 goals
Cameron Jerome (2004-06)– 73 games, 24 goals
Michael Chopra (2006-07) – 42 games, 22 goals
Ross McCormack (2008-09) – 14 games, 10 goals

Footnote: Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (2007-08) managed just seven goals in 36 games last season and injury-hit Robbie Fowler four in 13 games.