"WE ARE still in the hunt for the European Challenge Cup," maintained Ross Ford minutes after seeing the team go down to their first defeat in this year's competition. He knows it is going to be hard but, crucially, their fate is in their own hands.

What makes all the difference is that after mimicking last week's home game against the same opponents – a poor first half with a second-half comeback – though they could not clinch the result, they did get a losing bonus point.

That puts them four points clear of Stade Francais, their Paris hosts on Thursday night, with two rounds to go, one of them against pool minnows Timisoara Saracens.

"That losing bonus point is important for us and then there was the character we showed going for the win right at the end. We are still in the hunt. All we can do is learn the lessons and then try to capitalise on them when we get our next two games in the competition."

Before then attention will swing to the Boxing Day game at home to Glasgow Warriors, one that the players always relish as a chance for those in the Scotland team to cement their places and those on the fringe to show why they should be in the side.

"It is good to get a good rest and then go into the Glasgow game. The boys will be fresh and able to put in some good work in the week and get ourselves ready," Ford promised.

No secret what will be the main focus of their work. They nearly got away with starting badly and reeling their opponents in with a dynamic second half in both matches against Stade Francais, but against a team with greater powers of concentration, better fitness asnd without that French tendency towards complacency, they won't.

"We let them relieve the pressure too easily. At times we made some good inroads into their 22 but showed ill discipline to let them get away and into our half. We were under the pump for a while and the referee was not giving us much at all. That put us under pressure and they converted some easy points. We made it hard for ourselves," said Ford.

Worst from his point of view was that three of the tries came when the Edinburgh forwards failed to cope with their opponents. Having demonstrated that they could hold the Stade lineout maul, they allowed Remi Bonfils, the home hooker, to wriggle through for the opening try from the second maul. Worse was the penalty try from a scum, with Simon Berghan, the tighthead, being shown a yellow card and the third try coming when he was off the field.

Ford thought it was a harsh call and he had a case. The Scots were still bound in, the scrum was crabbing sideways rather than forward and Stade still had it under control when Dudley Phillips ran under the posts.

"The scrum. Yes, they got a penalty try and a yellow card off the first scrum [that broke up], that's a big, big call. That is what he called but ...," Ford tailed off. He wasn't going to be the one moaning about the officiating.

"The character the boys showed to come back from that and show some really good rugby from that position to get the losing bonus point," he added. "We were still going for it at the end, going for that win. It shows massive character from the boys, it was just that first half that killed it for us again.

"It is the second week in a row [they have given away 20 or more points in the first 40 miunutes] but we have also played games where we have blown teams away in the first half and then have slowed down in the second.

"It is … I was going to say mental but that has been said too much. It is something that is frustrating because we have shown we can do it in the first half and we can do it in the second half, what we have to do is do it for the full 80 minutes."

To guarantee themselves a place in the quarter finals, they probably need to pick up at least seven points from the last two games – Stade can finish six points ahead of where Edinburgh are at the moment and would go through on the head-to-head if the teams are tied after picking up six points from the two games while Edinburgh gained five.

Harlequins will probably go top of the pool this afternoon in Romania, but have the toughest finish, at home to Edinburgh and away at Stade Francais, where the former French champions have still not lost a game this season. It is all to play for.