An Ian Olney double kept Oldham's slim Premier League survival hopes alive with a victory over lack-lustre Liverpool.
Joe Royle's side must now beat Southampton at Boundary Park on Saturday and hope that fellow relegation strugglers Crystal Palace and Ipswich lose badly in their final fixtures.
Even then it would be down to goal difference but Oldham have the worst of them all.
While Oldham can continue to live in hope, the result puts even more pressure on under-fire Anfield manager Graeme Souness amid speculation that he is about to lose his job.
And Liverpool goalkeeper David James hardly helped his manager's cause with two blunders to give Oldham vital goals.
James, sent-off on the previous Saturday after giving away the penalty that sent Liverpool to defeat at Norwich, blundered badly again.
His first error came after 20 minutes when he failed to collect a Neil Pointon corner and striker Darren Beckford glanced home a header.
Liverpool levelled on the half-hour when Oldham 'keeper Paul Gerrard raced off his line to try to beat Ian Rush to a through ball but he was never in the running and watched in dismay as the lethal striker lobbed the ball over him and into the empty net.
Oldham were in front within five minutes and again James was at fault.
He fumbled another Pointon corner behind to concede a second flag-kick which Nick Henry swept in and James, going up with Ian Olney, again failed to claim the ball.
Whether Olney managed the final touch, or even got a touch at all, was unclear with James' flap at the ball only seeing it end up in the back of the net.
But just 42 seconds later, Olney left the 15,381 crowd in no doubt about the scorer as he burst into the area and steered a fine finish past James for a 3-1 defeat.
Liverpool threw everything forward in the second half and a bad slip by Paul Bernard allowed John Barnes to race clear and his lofted cross saw Ian Rush produce the perfect downward header to find the bottom corner.
Liverpool's hopes of salvaging a point were hit when midfielder Don Hutchison was sent-off by Dorset referee Paul Durkin in the 76th minute for elbowing Bernard in an off-the-ball incident.
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