With Thordarson putting together one of the most physical Notts County squads in recent times, it came as a surprise to many that his on-form outfit allowed themselves to be largely bullied by a visiting centre forward yesterday afternoon.
Michael Reddy's 41st minute goal was cooly-taken, but the former Sunderland striker's physical presence was enough to unsettle the Notts back three throughout the ninety minutes.
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While many stay-away supporters may have flocked back to Meadow Lane expecting to see a new Notts County side after much-improved displays, Thordarson's team delivered their worst performance at home since the 3-2 defeat against Cheltenham back in mid-November.
Though not lacking in work rate, the Magpies were often found lacking in imagination.
After the match, Thordarson commented that his team had delivered 23 crosses into the opposition penalty area during the second period.
From only one of those crosses was any form of chance fashioned, that being when Julien Baudet forced former Notts keeper Steve Mildenhall to make an excellent low stop, his only save of the game.
The Magpies' more direct style of play was failing to cause any panic in the visiting defence, with 6'7'' Ben Futcher gobbling up the numerous aerial balls that came his way with relative ease.
Where subtly was required, it was very rarely delivered, with only midfielder Lee Crooks - easily the home side's best player - delivering any kind of imagination with the ball at his feet.
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A delightful 40-yard pass from Tom Newey evaded Dan Martin and allowed the marksman to expertly slot past Pilkington.
Thordarson commented afterwards that the goal looked offside, but the assistant referee ruled that Reddy was in-line with the young defender when the ball was played.
The pass from visiting defender Newey was a prime example of the tactics used largely from both teams throughout the fixture.
Reddy's niggly approach was enough to spark two bouts of handbags with Baudet - who was mercillesly heckled by the bulky travelling support for his trouble - but his presence and that of Notts' Eugene Dadi caused both teams to largely resort to a long-ball game that did not sit easy on the eye.
While Reddy proved to be arguably the game's best player, the key difference between the two sides was that his knock-downs were often met by willing runners such as Notts transfer target Marc Goodfellow and former Magpie Paul Bolland - disappointingly booed by the home faithful.
At the other end, Dadi was often an isolated figure - particularly after the decision to switch to a 4-3-3 formation.
Attacking midfielder David Pipe had one of his less impressive games and was often too deep to offer much of an attacking threat, while Edwards' limitations when pushed into a more offensive role were again painfully apparent.
Chris Palmer endured easily his worst display since breaking back into the first team, while Mark DeBolla's work rate was unfortunately not matched by the quality of his final ball.
While recent improvements have injected much-needed optimism back into Meadow Lane, a sight at the final whistle was perhaps the most-telling scene of the entire afternoon.
Former Notts manager Russell Slade's delirious on-the-field celebrations in front of the travelling crowd may have just been a reminder to the departing home faithful as to how low Notts have sunk over the past half-decade.
Slade was widely written-off during his brief stint in charge at Meadow Lane in the mid 90's, but the shiny-headed boss has now put together a team that have sat inside the top three of League Two since September and look destined for automatic promotion.
For Thordarson, though, the hard work is still to be done.
Notts Ratings: Pilkington 6; Wilson 6, Baudet 7, Martin 6; Palmer 5, Pipe 6, Crooks 8*, Edwards 5, Needham 6; DeBolla 5, Dadi 6.
Subs: Scoffham (Needham, 69) 6, Long (Martin, 78) 6.