Walter Smith hopes Rangers' efforts against Stuttgart in the Champions League will act as the catalyst for their Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign.

Despite wins over Falkirk, Hearts and Hamilton before last week's goalless draw at Motherwell, Ibrox boss Smith believes his side have not yet reached the level of form which saw them claim a domestic double last season.

"I feel we have been a little bit slow to start this season and hopefully the game we had on Wednesday night will kick-start us a little bit," he said.

"We've managed to win a few games this season, the Motherwell game aside, but I don't feel we've started greatly. Hopefully, we can do that (against Kilmarnock) on Saturday.

"Sometimes you need a game of importance to kick-start your season and the Champions League for us was something that would maybe kick-start our season and bring a little bit of edge to our group of players and I'm hoping that will be the case.

"We have to lift our games in a domestic sense and try to get to the level we were playing at the other night in the Champions League.

"We haven't reached the levels of the second half of last season so far."

Smith admits he is not a fan of lunchtime kick-offs and is hoping for an improvement from his players following a disappointing showing at Motherwell, with goalkeeper Allan McGregor salvaging a point with a late penalty save.

"The early kick-offs are part and parcel of what we have to do these days," Smith said. "I can't say I'm a great lover of them but it's what we have to do. I think anyone, if they had a choice, would like to see the old 3pm kick-off but it's not possible so we have to get on with it.

"We kicked off early last week and never really started until well into the game, so hopefully we can start a bit earlier in this match than we did last week."