An early defensive blunder gifted Grimsby an early goal and although Gareth Evans smashed in an equaliser, Macclesfield were level for just three minutes before Jamie Clarke's thunderbolt condemned the Silkmen to a fourth straight home defeat.
Jamie Tolley came into midfield in place of James Ashmore and Evans deputising for the suspended Levi Reid in an attacking line-up.
The visitors came into the game in exceptional form - unbeaten this year and without a loss on their travels since November. Macc, buoyed by a crucial late victory at Morecambe, had their sights set on converting recent away form to Moss Rose points, but shot themselves in the foot just five minutes in.
A calamitous mix-up between centre-back pairing Ryan Cresswell and Sean Hessey allowed an innocuous long ball to set Danny North away and with Jonathon Brain stranded, the nippy striker cooly hooked the ball over him for his ninth of the campaign. Macc looked to press on despite the early set back, although far too often looked uneasy at the back, giving away possession in dangerous areas.
Hessey and Tolley both squandered good free kick chances by drilling at the onrushing wall from near identical postitions 25 yards out and Evans saw a rising first time effort brilliantly clawed away from the top corner by Grimsby keeper Phil Barnes.
Hessey was lucky to avoid a booking for crudely blocking North on halfway, as was Cresswell when he hauled down Peter Till on the left byline.The resulting free kick allowed Macc to break through Green, however Evans' final ball was misplaced and ran through to Barnes.
Sam Hird's pass across the box was flicked goalwards to cap an excellent swift attack by North but too tamely to test Brain who was forced to make a much better save minutes later to deny Till's header after another Hird cross from the right. Again Macc would have only had themselves to blame, with this time Izak Reid losing the ball too close to his own goal.
Francis Green pounced on a rare defensive slip at the other end to flick the ball into the path of Michael Symes, however rather than taking the ball down he dragged an ambitious volley well wide.
Neil Ashton's free kick from the right swung over everyone as the first half drew to a close, with Macc dominating possession only for a lack of a final ball their undoing.
There was just time for Evans to test Barnes from the edge of the box, checking back onto his right foot before driving too close to the centre of the goal.
North had been denied by the linesman's flag a number of times in the first period, but within a minute of the restart he broke the offside trap down the right channel and raced into the box only to put the ball wide of the far post. The miss was a real let off for Macc who should have been two down just seconds after the break.
A similar chance came at the other end with good link-up play between Ashton and Tolley allowing Green to play the ball across the box - wide of the far post and just out of the reach of Evans sprinting in.
In the 54th minute Izak Reid was caught underneath a crossfield ball which gave Nick Hegarty time and space on the left. However with two against one in the centre he badly sliced his cross behind into the empty away end.
With twenty minutes to go Ashton's deep corner was headed back across goal by substitute Luke Dimech and from six yards Symes should have done better from six yards than a looping header onto the roof of the net. Dunfield felled North 25 yards out on the right and Tom Newey's free kick was hit straight at Brain as Macc became frustrated going forward - lacking a killer ball in the final third.
The equaliser came on 80 minutes when Ashton got the length of his set-pieces right and Nick Fenton's poor clearing header dropped invitingly for Evans to blast in from six yards.
It wasn't to last though - the Mariners took the lead again three minutues later through a fine strike from midfielder Jamie Clarke. The Macc defence struggled to clear a ball in the box and Jamie Tolley's header was more up than out, giving Clarke the chance to stride onto the loose ball, chest it down and hammer a powerful volley past Brain from the edge of the box.
Izak Reid linked up well with Nick Blackman on the right wing, his cross fell behind everyone in the centre and was half cleared to Ashton who got hold of a rasping long range drive which ricocheted off a Grimsby head and out to safety.
In the four minutes of time added on Macc twice almost snatched a late draw when first Jamie Tolley blew a chance to earn his man of the match award by firing at the legs of Barnes when the ball dropped for him after a scramble in the box. With the seconds running out Green went agonizingly close when he latched onto a Symes flick and with the keeper out of position his snapshot skimmed the outside of the post to the disappointment of the home fans and with it went any chance of a dramatic finale.
Andy Brinkhurst
