Premiership Dundee United recovered from losing an early goal to outclass League Two Elgin City 6-1 in the Premier Sports Cup at Tannadice.
Kane Hester’s clinical finish gave City the lead, but a brace from Lawrence Shankland and goals from Nicky Clark and Peter Pawlett had United 4-1 up at the interval.
Second half goals from Keiran Freeman and Chris Mochrie added salt into the wounds for the north side.
City got their campaign started on Saturday with a 1-0 home defeat against Championship side Arbroath, which was a tie in which they asked big questions of their opponents but lacked a killer touch.
The Moray men, whose preparations to the new season were hampered by Covid within the ranks, are using the competition mainly for gaining match sharpness, with the focus largely on their League Two opener against Stranraer on July 31.
Tam Courts, the recently installed head coach at United, was happy that his side came through a tricky cup opener at League Two newcomers Kelty Hearts with a 1-0 win on Friday, courtesy of Shankland.
Courts, who watched Elgin’s tie last weekend, made three changes, with defenders Kerr Smith and Ryan Edwards and midfielder Florent Hoti in for Charlie Mulgrew, Calum Butcher and Ian Harkes beginning the night on the bench.
For Elgin, Gavin Price made two changes, with goalkeeper Thomas McHale replacing weekend star performer Daniel Hoban and Conor O’Keefe coming in for Aiden Sopel.
There was a healthy take-up of the 500 home fans inside Tannadice, lapping up the sunshine for this one.
The first chance fell the way of the visitors as Hester’s spectacular overhead kick crashed off the bar as an early warning from City.
However, Hester, the League Two top scorer last term with 19 goals, underlined his class further moments later when he latched on to a pass from Brian Cameron and finished with style past Benjamin Siegrist. It was a cool composed finish which turned the heat on United.
The Taysiders almost drew level on 15 minutes when Jeando Fuchs met a neat Pawlett pass, but McHale pulled off a fine stop to deny him.
However, it was quick work from Shankland five minutes later that led to the leveller as he nicked the ball from the keeper’s grasp and tucked it into the net after he failed to cut out a cross from Kieran Freeman.
And United grabbed control of the match on 25 minutes when Clark burst on to a Shankland pass and guided his shot over McHale.
The scoreline worsened for the visitors when Shankland crashed home another after McHale blocked Clark twice.
Pawlett got in on the act next when he scored with a chip after winning the ball from Darryl McHardy. At 4-1, the tie was over and it was a case of keeping the scoreline as low as possible.
However, Freeman drilled home his first goal for United on 55 minutes after being teed up by Shankland and Mochrie tucked away Freeman’s pass for a sixth.
Josh Peters and Creag Miller almost netted a second for Elgin, but it was not to be.
In the other Group B tie this evening, 10-man Arbroath beat League One East Fife 2-0, which means United and the Angus side are top on six points.
On Saturday, United host Arbroath, while Kelty Hearts return to action at home to East Fife.
Elgin have no cup-tie this weekend, so will instead play Highland League side Nairn County in a bounce game at Borough Briggs on Saturday, with a 3pm kick-off.
The Moray side’s next cup game will be an intriguing one as Kelty Hearts, big contenders for the League Two title, come calling next Tuesday.
