But that was as good as it got for Edinburgh as Duncan Weir got Glasgow back in the game with his boot before Stuart Hogg went over the whitewash to secure his side a 20-16 victory.
Edinburgh don't have to wait long for revenge with the Scottish giants set to do battle again on New Year's Day at Scotstoun.
And Atkins believes Edinburgh can turn the tables on their arch rivals at the second time of asking.
"As you can imagine everyone is really disappointed," he said. "We played well in patches but we made errors and let the game get away from us.
"They're a quality side and you can't give them space or they'll be on you straight away so credit to them for that.
"It was fantastic to hear that crowd out there, especially for such a big game and I'd like to thank all the fans that turned out.
"We think we can win every game we play, so we'll work hard on the training ground this week and get ourselves ready for next Wednesday.
"The boys really took it to them in the first half, and I think we out-muscled them up front at the contact. But they were a lot better in the second half. We'll work on that in training and make sure we're right for the game next week."
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