Coventry ended a run of over seven and a half hours without a goal but it was the opposition who found the net for them.
It came in the 16th minute when an excellent Richie Partridge cross was spectacularly headed into his own net by Grimsby central defender Simon Ford.
And the unfortunate Ford made the game safe for Coventry in the 63rd minute when he brought down Sky Blues striker Julian Joachim in the box for an obvious penalty.
Up stepped midfielder John Eustace to bang the spot kick home off the underside of the crossbar.
Coventry wasted several good chances to have won more convincingly but player-manager Gary McAllister was more than pleased with their performance.
Admitting afterwards that off the field distractions had left him in no state of mind to play he said it was an excellent team performance with several good individual displays.
Coventry's excellent passing and movement belied a team who had lost their previous four league games and Grimsby, with just four home wins all season, could not get into any rhythm or tempo.
Amazingly the home side did not have one shot on target all game and they never looked like pulling things round in a performance that had relegation written all over it.
But that should take nothing away from an excellent Coventry display as they eased to a league double over the Mariners who they beat 3-2 at Highfield Road earlier in the season.
McAllister must now decide whether to keep a winning side for their next fixture in midweek and as they are back in the top half of the table the play-offs are still very much in reach.