First, the morsels of consolation. Albion will not be playing again at Withdean until August.

And Dean Cox ended a home goal drought for the Seagulls spanning over six hours with a spectacular strike.

But that was as good as it gets.

Cox's stunner came too late to save Dean Wilkins' strugglers from a fifth straight defeat as Oldham cemented their place in the play-off zone.

It stretched Albion's atrocious Withdean run to one win in 12. They have been spared a nervy final day at Cheltenham, thanks only to Bradford's defeat at Chesterfield.

Jake Robinson returned to the Albion starting line-up, with Bas Savage ruled out by the knee injury he sustained in the 2-1 defeat at Swansea.

Robinson started upfront alongside Alex Revell with Gary Hart, fresh from his first appearance since January at Swansea, taking up the right midfield spot in a 4-4-2 formation.

Five changes made by Oldham included the return from injury of topscorer Chris Porter.

Australian Les Pogliacomi was also back in goal at the expense of former Albion loan signing Alan Blayney.

One of the fundamental problems for Albion at Withdean this season is that they have often started matches slowly, which has deflated the fans instead of lifting them.

It was the same story again, with Oldham looking by far the more dangerous.

The visitors almost grabbed the goal they craved to ease their anxiety twice in quick succession in the opening flurries.

When Porter challenged in the air for a cross the ball broke for Chris Taylor to strike a volley which was deflected behind.

The resulting corner was headed down at the far post by Will Haining and Porter was just too high with an overhead kick.

Albion had a let-off in the 14th minute, Paul Warne completely missing his kick from a low cross from Andy Liddell.

Even when the Seagulls showed a bit more attacking intent they were nearly caught out.

Taylor broke smartly from an Albion corner, vainly pursued by Cox.

He laid a pass invitingly into the path of Warne but his shot was blocked by Kerry Mayo.

It was no surprise when Albion fell behind in the 18th minute and the identity of the goal scorer was predictable as well.

A cross from the right by teenage fullback Neal Eardley was met majestically with a well-placed header by Porter, his 22nd of the season.

Oldham went close to doubling their advantage on the half-hour with a glancing header by skipper Haining from Liddell's cross which clipped the top of the bar.

The Seagulls were also foiled by the woodwork just a minute later.

Pogliacomi came for a cross from Cox but Alex Revell beat him to it to crash a header against the bar.

It was frustrating that it took Albion so long to test the Oldham keeper.

Pogliacomi's confidence was fragile, because he had been substituted at half-time in the Lancastrians' last home game against Cheltenham after making a couple of costly mistakes.

A disappointing first half for Albion got worse in the 40th minute, when they fell further behind to a fantastic strike.

Warne set up Liddell for a right-foot drive from 20 yards which arrowed past Scott Flinders into the top corner.

It is not the first time that Albion have felt the full force of Liddell's goal scoring capabilities.

The 33-year-old Scotsman hit a hat-trick against them for Wigan a few seasons ago.

Wilkins rarely maintains the same formation throughout 90 minutes and the Withdean curtain closer was no exception.

In the second half Robinson drifted out to the left and Cox was asked to probe from a more central midfield position.

At least Pogliacomi was eventually forced into something resembling meaningful action five minutes into the restart to save a shot from a tight angle by Hart at his near post after a quickly taken free-kick by Cox released Mayo.

The second half began to meander after that, with Oldham content to maintain their two-goal cushion and Albion not suggesting they were capable of making a comeback.

One incident illustrated their shortcomings in the final third of the pitch.

Hart headed back a cross from Robinson but there was nobody to capitalise on the edge of the box.

The fans, apparently resigned to another depressing outcome, cheered ironically when Mayo misplaced a pass straight to an Oldham player.

It was one of the long-serving fullback's final contributions, Tommy Elphick taking his place with 20 minutes left.

Just prior to that, Robinson had optimistic appeals for a penalty ignored when his volley was blocked at close quarters by Gary McDonald, deputising at rightback after Eardley limped off.

It was a ridiculously comfortable afternoon for Pogliacomi, although he was made to stretch to hold above his head a shot by Cox from outside the box. Nathan Elder was also thrown on, at Hart's expense, in the later stages to beef up Albion's powder puff efforts.

But it was Cox, the smallest player on the pitch, who brought the home faithful back to life five minutes from the end with a strike every bit as good, if not better, than Liddell's.

His angled effort from the edge of the area dipped over Pogliacomi, his tenth goal of the season.

It was worthy of winning any game but sadly it merely halved Albion's losing margin.