Notts started won the toss and elected to kick towards the Kop on a very windy Nottingham day.
The game started in scrappy fashion with a 11 free-kicks in the first fifteen minutes. Carlo Corazzin of Oldham was booked after 6 minutes for failing to retreat the full 10 yards.
Booking - Corrazin
7 minutes in to the game, Ian Richardson released Paul Heffernan with a fantastic ball but the youngster put his pass behind the feet of the charging Marcel Cas.
A minute later the defender made up for his rare piece of skill as he dummied the ball allowing an Oldham striker to get his foot to it. Stuart Garden was injured in the process.
Cas was looking very sharp but his Magpie colleagues were repeatedly unable to play the ball to his feet.
On 24 minutes Danny Allsopp managed to get in a shot after a great first touch and run but the shot was wide.
Paul Heffernan looked like Notts' sharpest player linking up well with the midfield but he was unable to create any chances.
The game started to pick up with half-time approaching and Cas shot over the bar after a good move started by Richard Liburd in his own penalty area.
Heffernan created an opportunity after flicking the ball past 3 Oldham players but Rachubka was there to cover.
The Magpies continued to pushed forward but Darren Caskey in particular was struggling to find the final ball.
Just before half-time, Ian Baraclough brought down David Reeves in the County penalty area but the referee ruled that the contact was accidental.
A minute later Ian Richardson went down after a nasty clash of heads with David Eyres and he was forced to leave the pitch for treatment with three minutes of stoppage time remaining.
Corrazzin took a quick throw-in to prevent the lanky defender from returning to the pitch to the chagrin of the Notts faithful but the referee showed admirable judgement by awarding County a goal-kick even though the ball did not go out of play.
Half-time - Notts County 0 - 0 Oldham
A positive first-half for the Notts defence who prevented the division's top scorers from creating a genuine chance.
However, the Pies have work to do up front as they repeatedly fail to find the final ball. Caskey looks particularly out of sorts.
The second half started in disastrous fashion as Paul Murray planted a header in the back of the Notts' net after a good cross beat a static County defence.
Notts County 0 - 1 Oldham
Immediately afterwards Cas put a close range shot wide after good work by Allsopp.
David Eyres forced a good save from Stuart Garden as Oldham began to grow in confidence.
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Notts County 0 - 2 Oldham
Notts gave the long-suffering faithful some hope after a cracking long range shot was brilliantly saved by the Oldham keeper. Notts won a corner.
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Substitution: Hackworth for Ian Richardson (injured arm)
Substitution: Duxbury for Sheridan
Notts switched to a 3-4-3 formation with 20 minutes left after Tony Hackworth replaced Ian Richardson who was holding his left arm as he left the field in complete silence.
With 71 minutes gone, Oldham sat back as Notts probed their midfield without creating any real chances.
The rain lashed down and the 4,500 suffering fans must have been hoping that the game would suffer the same fate as Birmingham City against Crewe which was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.
With 10 minutes to go, Caskey rolled the ball along the 6 yard line to Danny Allsopp but the hapless striker spooned the ball over the bar with the goal-net gaping.
The rain poured down making it difficult for Oldham to control the game and Hackworth missed a further chance when he failed to bring the ball under control when just 3 yards out.
Final Score: Notts County 0 - Oldham 2
If there was any solace to be taken from this game it was that except for a 10 minute spell, the division's leading scorers did not look like scoring. But then neither did County. And it was an improvement on Tuesday's performance. However, even at this stage of the season the Magpies look doomed.