Less than eight weeks after last season ended, Dundee United are back in competitive action on Friday night.
The Tangerines will travel through to new boss Thomas Courts’ former club, Kelty Hearts, to kick off their Premier Sports Cup campaign.
Their Group B schedule will also take in a trip to another of Courts’ ex-sides, East Fife, but not before Elgin City and Arbroath come to Tannadice.
Progress to the knockout stages of the League Cup, something the Terrors haven’t achieved since 2017, will be expected as they gear up for the Premiership getting under way on August 1.
But just what can United expect from their lower league opponents?
Kelty Hearts (A) Friday, July 9
League Two Kelty will be riding the crest of a wave after their promotion into the league set-up for the first time in their history.
The former junior outfit won the Lowland League last season and downed Brora Rangers and then Brechin to take their place in the fourth tier of Scottish football’s pyramid.
Their ambitions don’t stop there. They’ll be hoping to scale the heights of the SPFL under rookie boss Kevin Thomson.
With experienced Premiership and Championship campaigners like former Rangers midfielder Jamie Barjonas and ex-Inverness hitman Nathan Austin in their ranks, they’re no mugs.
Wingers Joe Cardle and Kallum Higginbotham are expected to be their danger men as Thomson looks to adopt a fluid style of play.
In pre-season, they have already ran Championship Partick Thistle and League One Montrose close – narrowly losing 3-2 to the Jags and playing out a 1-1 draw with The Gable Endies.
That Kelty will provide stern opposition is a point that won’t be lost on the Terrors after they narrowly beat the Fifers 1-0 at the same stage of the competition last season.
Elgin City (H) Wednesday, July 14
Fellow-League Two side Elgin enjoyed a good season last time out, finishing third but losing to Edinburgh City in a promotion play-off semi-final.
The Borough Briggs outfit have some decent pedigree in their ranks – with a few players, in particular, United will have to be wary of.
Gavin Price, one of the SPFL’s longest-serving managers, can boast talent like goal machine Kane Hester, who topped the fourth-tier scoring charts last term with 15.
City can also call on former Ross County midfielder Tony Dingwall and, interestingly, captain and United youth coach, Euan Spark.
That said, in their only pre-season friendly to date against league opposition, the Moray side lost 5-0 to Premiership County.
Ultimately, the Tangerines should have enough to see off Elgin in a similar fashion to their 4-0 group-stage win in 2018 – the only meeting between the sides to date.
Arbroath (H) Saturday, July 17
Arguably United’s toughest test in the group stage comes in the form of Arbroath.
Dick Campbell’s Championship men have been a thorn in the Terrors’ side in recent years.
The Red Lichties beat United on penalties at this stage in 2018 and the pair contested some tight encounters in the Tangerines’ 2019/20 Championship title-winning season.
There haven’t been too many new faces down Gayfield way with legendary boss Campbell, as ever, likely to go with a tight squad as the second-tier’s only part-time outfit.
Former Dundee man Nicky Low has made his loan switch from East Stirlingshire permanent and is expected to be a key player.
While former Bo’ness Athletic man Dylan Paterson and ex-Edinburgh City men Liam Henderson and Calum Antell also joined the club.
Bobby Linn is still their star man but the likes of James Craigen, David Gold (also a United youth coach), Dale Hilson and Michael McKenna are a useful supporting cast.
With the experience of Ricky Little, Tam O’Brien and No 1 Derek Gaston at the back, the Angus side are a solid unit, accustomed to playing with each other and one that won’t be easy to break down.
However, given they recently shipped four to Livingston in a friendly, it is clear they can be got at.
East Fife (A) Tuesday, July 20
To round off the group, United will head into Fife once more, this time to New Bayview.
League One East Fife will lie in wait in Methil, with Darren Young’s side keen to get their campaign off to a good start.
The Fifers will be hoping to build on last term’s sixth-placed finish and trying for a repeat of their shock 2-0 win over United at the same stage of competition in 2019.
The names Aaron Dunsmore and Liam Watt will still haunt a number of players who donned tangerine that day that are likely to play again this time out.
While Dunsmore and Watt remain, Young has since added the likes of former Terror Danny Swanson and ex-Arbroath man Danny Denholm to his pool.
They are a handy side and United will need to be on their guard.