Tam Courts, the Dundee United manager, saluted Charlie Mulgrew for his magical winner which maintained their perfect start to their Scottish League Cup quest.

Former Celtic and Scotland star Mulgrew, who returned to Tannadice for a second stint earlier this summer, showed he’d lost none of his dead-ball expertise with a stunning strike midway through the first-half to give the Tangerines a hard-earned victory over Championship hopefuls Arbroath and keep them at the summit of their group.

Mulgrew was Courts’ first summer signing since being appointed as Micky Mellon’s successor and the 35-year-old had praise poured on him by his manager, whose side now travel to East Fife on Tuesday for their final Group B fixture.

“It was a great strike from Charlie,” smiled Courts.

“And I must give a lot of credit to Liam Fox and the players.

“They do a lot of work on their set-piece preparation.

“That’s actually two of our three games where we’ve no scored from set-pieces.

“They’ve been worked routines. So congratulations to them for that.

“Overall, we’re very pleased with the outcome.

“Arbroath are probably the nemesis for most full-time teams. They are a match for anyone on their day.

“I thought we were terrific. The goal we scored came at a great time and we then had to show some resilience towards the end.

“But that’s two clean sheets in three games which is another positive.”

This had the makings of being United’s toughest test so far having thrashed Elgin City 6-1 at home earlier in the week, following their opening-day 1-0 victory away to Kelty Hearts, and so it proved.

Logan Chalmers did have their first effort on target when he cut in and unleashed a shot which Derek Gaston, the visiting keeper, smartly tipped over the bar.

Then, in 20 minutes, youngster Lewis Mochrie went on a surging run through the heart of Arbroath’s defence and only Gaston racing off his line to smother the danger prevented the deadlock from being broken.

However, the Premiership side went ahead with their next foray upfield.

Mulgrew and Chalmers both stood over the free-kick kick which was fully 35-yards from goal.

After shaping up for a cross into the box from an acute angle, Mulgrew elected to shoot instead and caught Gaston by surprise with an expertly-placed effort which nestled in the near post.

Arbroath, though, weren’t for buckling. Nicky Low, the former Dundee midfielder, attempted a quick-fire equaliser but saw his effort comfortably held by Benjamin Siegrist.

Low then released Bobby Linn, another ex-Dundee player, down the left wing but he chose to shoot when he might have been better trying to pick out a team-mate inside the box, so the chance was wasted.

 Arbroath also enjoyed much dominance after the break. In 68 minutes, Dale Hilson, the ex-United forward, had a glorious opportunity to equalise but he lacked composure when he fired a loose ball over the top from point-blank range after a corner wasn’t cleared.

They didn’t give up there and, in injury-time, substitute Gavin Swankie knocked wide of the target from Ricky Little’s weighted cross when he had just Siegrist to beat

Arbroath manager Dick Campbell, whose side had defeated East Fife earlier in the wee and now face Kelty Hearts this week, said: “We should have won the game – never mind drawn.

“We’ve had six chances in the whole game and they’ve only had two.

“The goal we lost was like one you’d lose with the kids on a Sunday morning.

“It’s great from our point of view but an absolute shocker from our perspective.

“But we’ve still got a chance of going through. Generally nine points does it so we’re aiming for that.”