Even so this was Rusden's first league defeat of the season following a 1-0 victory at Mansfield and three home draws.
The visitors were chasing the game from the eighth minute when veteran full-back John McDermott unleashed a stunning goal from near the far touchline.
Middlesbrough-born 'Macca' as he is known has not scored one better in over 600 league appearances for his only club and is now halfway to equalling his season's best goal tally of two.
In fact McDermott's goal - curiosity in itself - was the cue for widespread celebrations among the fans who love last season's player of the year.
The strike thundered over helpless goalkeeper Jamie Young and unleashed all the pent up frustrations of Grimsby's narrow defeat against Darlington in their previous home outing.
Successive away wins at Derby in the Carling Cup and over Barnet in the league indicate that Russell Slade's side should be a genuine threat at this level this year.
When the Mariners won a 51st minute penalty for a foul on Michael Reddy by keeper Young it seemed that Grimsby's amazing penalty sequence must be broken.
Having missed seven of their previous eight it fell to Jean-Paul Kalala Kamudimba and he converted from 12 yards despite Young getting his hand to the ball as it crossed the line.
Rushden's frustrations boiled over with three bookings near the end to make it five in total and they did well to escape within a 2-0 defeat.