Scottish round-up: Dundee United need penalties to beat Arbroath

The Scottish football season got underway on Friday night as Dundee United beat Arbroath 5-3 on penalties in their Betfred Cup opener at Gayfield Park.

Ray McKinnon's first competitive match in charge of the Scottish Championship side came in the newly revamped League Cup competition, which sees eight groups of five teams play each other in a round-robin format in July.

From there,12 teams will progress to the knockout round with Scotland's European competition participants joining in. Part of the new format sees drawn matches go straight to penalties with two points for the winner and one for the loser.

United thought they had taken all three points in their Group C opener against their League Two opponents when Henri Anier gave the visitors the lead with five minutes remaining.

However, Colin Hamilton sent the game to penalties when he equalised in injury time but Arbroath's Liam Callaghan saw his penalty saved with the shootout tied before Scott Fraser scored the decisive spot kick for United.

Kris Doolan scored the only goal at a sodden Excelsior Stadium as Partick Thistle got their campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over Airdrie in Group E.

Doolan hit his 90th goal for Thistle 10 minutes into the second half as the Premiership side punished their League One opponents for some slack play, drilling the ball just inside the post from 18 yards.

In Group D, Championship side Raith Rovers were given a scare as they eventually overcame Highland League side Cove Rangers 2-1 at Station Park.

Ryan Stott gave the Highlanders the lead on the half-hour mark but his strike was cancelled out by Kyle Benedictus just four minutes later before Lewis Vaughan hit the winner for Rovers 10 minutes into the second half.

Rangers kick-off their campaign against Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday afternoon.