Cardiff Blues head coach Dai Young admits his side's chances of continuing their European dream beyond next week are now extremely slim but he insists that won't stop them from going all out to win their final Heineken Cup pool game.
Young saw his side edge past Castres Olympique 14-9 and move off the foot of the Pool 1 table on Friday night thanks to nine points from the boot of Dan Parks and an outstanding individual try from Wales wing Leigh Halfpenny.
The win was revenge for a 27-20 defeat to the same opposition back in October - a result that proved the first of three successive Heineken Cup loses for the Blues.
That run effectively ended the Blues' hopes in the continent's top competition but they retained an outside chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Amlin Challenge Cup, a tournament the Blues won in such style when they beat RC Toulon in Marseilles last May.
While finishing second in the group is still a distinct possibility - the Blues are just a point behind Castres - securing one of the three spots on offer for entry into the Amlin quarter-finals is now extremely unlikely, with 15 points the maximum tally available to the Blues.
But even if their dream comes to an end prior to next week's trip to Edinburgh, Young's men will be determined to bow out on a high.
"From my point of view, I'd have to be honest and say we're certainly up against it," admitted Young, when asked about his side's chances of earning the opportunity to defend their Amlin Challenge Cup crown.
"We've got to rely on other people this weekend and by the end of the weekend we will pretty much know where we stand.
"I think it's 15 points that we can get now. We set ourselves a target of 16 points so we had to come in tonight with a bonus point and probably get a bonus point next week as well to have a real chance.
"That wasn't to be, but we've had two narrow defeats against Northampton and we want to finish the Heineken Cup with two wins.
"If that's good enough to take us through, then great. I don't think it will be, but that's the important thing for us now, to finish with two wins."
As for the performance itself, Young saw a mixture of positives and negatives in a third straight win in all competitions since New Year's Eve.
The former Wales and Lions prop was quick to praise his side's commitment to the cause but freely admitted they are still not quite clicking as he would like.
"I'm really pleased with the win. I thought we were by far the better team. We were the only team who tried to play rugby," added Young.
"Where we're a little bit frustrated is that, when we get into a position like 11-3, we need to kick on a bit. We found it very difficult to get that next score so we could relax a little and start playing the rugby we'd like.
"I thought there was a lot of heart and a lot of determination shown by the players. There was a lot of physicality shown by the players, but if I had to pick up on one thing that I was disappointed with it would be that, when we get ourselves into prime positions, we don't seem to be able to put the final nail into the coffin."