ON THE final whistle, there was some confusion over whether Notts County were mathematically safe in League Two, even in defeat, or if their status as the world's oldest league club was in the slightest jeopardy going into the last three games of the season.

Some believed the Magpies needed one more point to be certain of staying in the Football League while others insisted, rightly, that they are already safe, that they could lose to Morecambe, Dagenham and Wycombe and still stay up.

And while that will ease uneasy minds, it will not relieve the fierce frustration felt by manager Ian McParland, his players and the fans because County have badly under- achieved this season, not just in the last five games at Meadow Lane.

That there is any doubt about their safety after the penultimate home game of the season is, in itself, a terrible indictment of their campaign.

With the players McParland has brought to Meadow Lane the club should be higher in the table than 18th. They should be in mid-table at the very least.

There should not be any need to work out if Notts can be overtaken by Bournemouth, Grimsby and Chester – the three teams battling to avoid joining already-relegated Luton in Blue Square Premier next season.

The defeat to Grimsby is the fourth in the last five games at Meadow Lane; the seventh in the last ten, home and away.

After winning four of their first five home games of the new year, and looking a formidable force, they have picked up only one point, from a draw against Accrington, out of 15, abysmally.

How ever many more points their performances have merited, and they have deserved more, that is not good enough.

They produced one of their most dominating first-half performances of the season against the Mariners – and should have been out of sight at half-time.

But, like so many times this season, they didn't take their chances, although the visitors' keeper Wayne Henderson, who played 11 league games on loan at Notts from Aston Villa in 2004, kept them at bay with some truly incredible saves.

Richard Butcher had two chances to break the deadlock – he wasted the first and was then denied by Henderson's heroics.

After making a perfectly-timed run from midfield to seize onto Matt Hamshaw's threaded pass, Butcher fired straight at Henderson from inside the penalty area on 15 minutes.

It was similar to a chance he spurned against Barnet at Meadow Lane in February, in his first game back from injury, only this time he couldn't use rustiness as a reason. He should have scored his ninth goal of the season.

His second chance came on the half-hour mark. This time he struck a wonderful 20-yard effort that looked destined to creep inside the post until Henderson produced the outstanding save of the game and somehow managed to claw it away at full-stretch.

The pressure was relentless and on-loan striker Jonathan Forte was also memorably denied by a magnificent save from Henderson when he made a confident close-range connection with Phil Picken's right wing cross five minutes later. Again, almost unbelievably, the Mariners' keeper parried it away.

The only time Henderson made a mistake and came rushing out of his penalty area to clear but was beaten to the ball by Forte, Rob Atkinson cleared the danger.

Atkinson, of course, had an even more significant say at the start of the second half when he headed the visitors ahead from a corner. Once again, Notts should have defended the set-play better – that has been a consistent complaint all season.

But the defender's finish was flawless as he rose highest inside the penalty area and directed a pinpoint header past Kevin Pilkington and inside the far post.

Grimsby doubled their lead with a disputed Danny Boshell strike. The midfielder drove a low shot past Pilkington from inside the box after latching onto a clever through ball from Barry Conlon, but the linesman put his flag up as he ghosted in behind the Magpies' back-line.

After a discussion between the linesman and referee Mark Haywood, however, the goal was awarded, ending Notts' hopes of staging a fight-back.

In truth, Boshell looked like he timed his run terrifically and was onside. Substitute Adrian Forbes, who did not interfere with play, looked to have strayed offside.

At 2-0, it was all over. In fact, at 1-0 the Magpies never looked like equalising. The closest they came was when Myles Weston and Butcher both miscued efforts wide of the target in quick succession.

They visibly lost their confidence and composure when they fell behind. Given their recent poor run of results on home soil perhaps that is unsurprising.

With just one win in ten league games now there is pressure on McParland and the players to bring an end to their awful run of results in the last three games, a very different kind of pressure to last season when they were fighting against relegation until the final home game, of course, but pressure nonetheless.

They have to turn winning performances into wins. It sounds easy – but it won't be.