Lee Ryder's Newcastle vs Liverpool review
While the Amazon Prime cameras were focused on the closing stages of Newcastle United vs Liverpool at St James' Park, Magpies boss Eddie Howe could be seen fretting over the very real prospect of his side undoing all their hard work for the third time in Wednesday's 3-3 draw with the Reds.
82 minutes had been played on Tyneside and the Toon manager stood rooted to the spot, mouth open in confusion, arms aloft and outstretched, visibly uneasy at the fact Liverpool were beginning to turn the screw late on. A mere few moments earlier, Mohamed Salah had just seen his close-range shot cannon back off the crossbar as the away side looked to take the lead for the first time.
Seconds later, as Howe screamed, clapped and hurried his players to press with more urgency, Salah had the ball in the back of the net. A sucker punch late on with just seven minutes of normal time remaining - plus any added on.
At that stage, it felt to many as though Newcastle may just have come up short against the Premier League's runaway leaders. A remarkably consistent opponent, who were riding high after big wins over Manchester City and Real Madrid.
Howe and assistant Jason Tindall looked immediately to the bench, rolling the dice with three late changes in the form of Joe Willock, Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff. Yet it was an unlikely hero slipping around the back to squeeze one in from a tight angle at the death as the hosts bounced back.
Fabian Schar insisted at full-time that he had simply been trying to keep Bruno Guimaraes' deep free-kick in play as he slid in at the byline, capitalising on Caoimhin Kelleher's misjudgement to send the ball into an empty net. It matters little whether he meant it or not - it was a point Newcastle more than deserved.
After some defensive lapses in front of the Leazes End in the second-half, it would have been easy for the home side to throw the towel in. However, just Wor Flags' pre-match display demanded, Newcastle did indeed 'get into them'.
"How do I feel? Positive, that was much better from us," Howe admitted at full-time. "You know with the quality Liverpool have off the bench we could have an issue and that's what happened.
"But our mental quality came to the fore and we got the equaliser. We had chances to make it 2-0, we scored three goals and looked dynamic and energetic. I am really proud. We went toe-to-toe and matched them, it's our best of the season. Our gameplan was to be ourselves, which is difficult against a team like Liverpool, it's a delicate balance."