Edinburgh showed plenty of courage in Saturday’s EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final against Bath but were ultimately outpowered by their English visitors and must now try to salvage their season in the United Rugby Championship. Ross Thompson, the capital side's stand-off, believes they have too much quality in their squad not to make the play-offs but the odds are against them with two rounds of fixtures remaining. Edinburgh sit 10th in the URC standings and even if they secure two maximum-points victories in their final games against Connacht away and Ulster at home it might not be enough to secure a place in the all-important top eight. Having missed out on the play-offs in each of the last two years, the pressure is on to deliver. The 39-24 defeat to the runaway Gallagher Premiership leaders at Hive Stadium was a strength-sapping affair but Thompson believes Edinburgh will be re-energised for the tasks that lie ahead, starting with this Saturday’s trip to Galway. “I don't think it'll be hard to pick ourselves up at all,” he said. “It's a fresh competition to go into and we've got to get into that topic so we get into the play-offs. It's as simple as that. We've got too good quality in our team not to be making the play-offs.” Thompson, 26, was part of Glasgow Warriors’ URC-winning squad last season but made the decision to move along the M8 in the summer in the quest for more game-time. It has paid off, with the stand-off playing in all 23 of Edinburgh's competitive games this season, starting 19 of them. An influential presence at 10, he helped keep his team in the game against Bath in what was a hugely physical semi-final. Edinburgh led early in the second half and trailed by only three points going into the final five minutes but Bath pulled away with late tries from Niall Annett and Guy Pepper, adding to earlier efforts by the outstanding Sam Underhill, Tom Dunn (two) and Alfie Barbeary. Edinburgh’s scores came from Mosese Tuipulotu, a penalty try and Ali Price, with Thompson kicking two conversions and a penalty. “I thought we defended really well in the first half,” said Thompson. “We had a few good snippets of rugby on turnover attack but we didn't get too much. “We managed to stay in the game in the first half and then we stayed in the game early on in the second half, even though we gave them too many entries into our 22. But it was there for the taking.” Bath’s power up front was formidable, and the introduction early in the second half of Barbeary, Thomas du Toit and Ted Hill combined with a yellow card for Edinburgh’s Sam Skinner saw the visitors take control. Thompson demurred when it was put to him that Bath’s quality off the bench had been a decisive factor. “But we've got lots of quality as well,” he said. “They’re obviously top of the Prem and going well but that's where we want to be and we think we can be. If we want to be the best team, then we've got to be able to beat some of the best teams.”