It cannot, however, be denied that Grimsby fully deserved to take away at least a point and might even have claimed all three.
The Mariners edged it in the first half and had the best of the scoring opportunities without being able to take even one of them.
Peter Till was their inspiration and, between them, goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington and right-back Lee Canoville were the Notts players who did most to frustrate the visitors.
Canoville cleared off the line before Pilkington - County's man of the match - made his two best saves of the game, both to deny the bustling Danny North.
One of these was a one-on-one situation in which the striker seemed odds on to score but Pilkington timed his block to perfection to deny him.
Notts had comparatively few scoring opportunities before the break, but their first of the second half should probably have brought them the opener.
It fell to debutant Ryan Jarvis after a poor Grimsby clearance but, in trying to pick his spot, the centre-forward on loan from Norwich saw his effort deflected away off the body of goalkeeper Phil Barnes.
The Grimsby keeper had no chance when Notts stormed in front after 59 minutes.
Jarvis and Jason Lee were involved in the build up and from 12 yards Richard Butcher lashed the ball into the corner of the net.
The midfielder was as disheartened as anybody to find Notts holding the advantage for only two minutes.
The defence switched off when called upon to deal with a set piece and Danny Boshell fed the ball through to Nick Fenton to steer it inside Pilkington's right-hand post.
Fenton had marked his return to a ground where he was once a star defender.
The best chances late on fell to Notts substitute Myles Weston who, from close range, headed the best of them over the bar.
Grimsby are now unbeaten in 11 and climbing well clear of the bottom two places.