The Red Rose county were completely outplayed in every facet of the game against a Gloucester side, who were seen as comprehensive underdogs all through the lead up to the fifth Twenty20 Finals Day.
Chilton accepted that. He told the gathered press straight after the game that his troops were given `a bit of a hammering' by a far superior side.
But he didn't concur with the strong weight of feeling in the cricketing fraternity that Lancashire's froze and lost their bottle when it really mattered.
"I don't have anything to say on that, it is something made up by other people. We are a strong side, and we are a good side. We have just been beaten today - I don't buy that one bit.
"That is unfair on the likes of Hodge, Law and Flintoff. To say they are not mentally strong is unjust."
Chilton had a point. Can such high quality international players as Muttiah Muralitharan really choke or lose their bottle on the big stage?
Even so, the record of eight limited overs semi-final and two final defeats since the turn of the century, is something that will be concerning everybody connected with the Old Trafford club.
Disappointed
The Red Rose were behind the eight-ball even before they had taken the field in Birmingham. Mal Loye pulled out with back spasms for the third time this season.
And that meant that Chilton, who had originally decided to drop himself was back in and at the helm. Stuart Law had been set to captain the side.
"It did unsettle us a bit," Chilton continued. "Everybody knows that Mal has been a very successful Twenty20 player.
"It did upset our plans a little bit, but we just had to get on with it. Mal was desperately disappointed."
Gloucester, however, lost the final to Kent in a thrilling finish.
Lancashire will now have to pick themselves up for Thursday's County Championship Roses clash against Yorkshire at Headingley.
With Pro40 as their only realistic saviour, is Lancashire's season over?
Chilton added: "We still feel that if we get on a good roll of wins in the Championship, then we can really get our teeth stuck into that.
"We will focus our attentions on that."
What do you think? Have your say.
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Mark, South Manchester (06/08/2007 at 12:44)
A lack of bottle &/or timid captaincy perhaps?
p-woodhouse, gorton (06/08/2007 at 15:08)
brown.newby. not seen enough of marshal and mullaney to comment.. get rid of, chilton,cork,sutton,
sutcliffe, as for the overseas players. thats just a joke to pick a player who will be here for 6-7 games a season. keep chappel to bring on the young bowlers. and mahmood wants to forget about england. and concentrate on lancs. because at this moment in time he is not good enough....watkinson seems more bothered about his shades and how he looks. than lancs.wouldnt suprise me if he has lost the dressing room. get rid of him he's a joke. get duncan fletcher in. i would try and get chris adams of sussex as the captain next year... bring in a couple of new players also.
kas (06/08/2007 at 20:23)
Also getting overseas players who will be there from May - September. Other counies manage these simple things.
Trophy Polisher, Preston (07/08/2007 at 12:34)
Chilton also needs to go as Captain as he is not able to inspire, still doesn't have much of a clue about tactics and is basically just a yes man for the even more negative Watkinson and the rest of the "we'll stick to our guns and we don't care about Lancs" hierarchy.
We also need to lose this obsession with the Championship, the thrashing we received at the hands of Sussex 1 day previously was still evident in the camp.
As the article says, 8 semi and 2 final defeats in the past 8 seasons. It shows we are getting there, but ultimately of course we are bottlers, but there is no settled team that play as a unit to break this bottler tag.
Time for changes.