Micky Evans came off the subs bench to score the goals that ensured Plymouth Argyle went into Christmas at the top of the Second Division.
Evans netted in the 79th minute, just four minutes after being introduced into the proceedings, and followed that up with a fine strike just three minutes later.
Up until then, Argyle had been anxiously holding on to a one-goal lead given to them by Nathan Lowndes in the 28th minute Lowndes netted after a fine pass from Marino Keith had sent Paul Wotton free to round the goalkeeper and square the ball.
However, Plymouth were lucky to take a lead into the interval. Three times they were hit on the counter by their visitors only for young goalkeeper Luke McCormick to thwart them with point blank saves, most notably when Mark Stallard was put through.
The game came to life after the triple substitution of Evans, David Friio and Blair Sturrock.
Almost immediately Sturrock began to cause problems with his astute running and it was no surprise that Evans' first goal came from his good work.
It was Sturrock who released young right back Paul Connolly on the overlap and his low cross was eventually turned in from close range by Evans.
Evans' second also had some involvement from Sturrock before the goalscorer angled a well placed shot across County goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall.
After the game Argyle manager Paul Sturrock expressed some sympathy for County counterpart Billy Dearden.
"If I was the Notts County manager, I would feel a wee bit disappointed with the result," he said. "It wasn't a 3-0 game. I don't think we deserved to win by that.
"I was very disappointed by the attitude of some of my younger players today. They acted as if they just had just got to turn up to get a result. On another day we would have been punished for that." Evans second goal was Plymouth's 4999th goal in football League history, meaning that they have to go to Bournemouth on Boxing Day in search of the historic landmark.