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NEWCASTLE have waited quite a while to leave a late one on Liverpool.
So Joe Willock’s goal to claim the point that surely guarantees the Toon will be in the Premier League next season must have felt so sweet.
Because it came in time being added on for a VAR check that had disallowed Callum Wilson’s effort just moments earlier.
The memory of Stan Collymore closing in at the Kop in injury time to devastate Kevin Keegan’s title-chasers in 1995 still stings on Tyneside. That Newcastle returned to Anfield two years later to lose another classic 4-3 – thanks to Robbie Fowler’s last-gasp winner – only adds to the pain.
This was payback. Big-time. Against a club that thought it was above the Premier League this time last week.
While Steve Bruce’s side are on the cusp of safety after one defeat in their last eight games, Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of a top-four finish are hanging by a thread.
Mo Salah became the first Liverpool player to score 20 Premier League goals in three seasons – and the home side produced more efforts on target than when they smashed seven past Crystal Palace in December. But, for the second time in a week, they had to settle for a point after failing to see the game out.
“It is very tough to take,” said Klopp (below). “But you have to take your chances and we didn’t, so Newcastle deserved to take a point.
“I think that is the first time we have been lucky with VAR and we couldn’t even take that present.
“Finishing in the top four depends on your results on the pitch and we have taken something like five points off the bottom six teams, so that is not OK.
“Now I need some time to be angry and frustrated – and then we must go again.”
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his bid to claim his third Golden Boot. On another day, he might have been out of sight.
Salah should have scored again when Diogo Jota sent him clear, but this time his attempt to beat Martin Dubravka with a clipped finish did not fool the visiting keeper.
Mane squandered an even better chance by allowing Dubravka to snatch the ball off his toes after Salah had put one on a plate.
And although Allan SaintMaximin was giving the home side a few anxious moments at the other end, it seemed only a matter of time before Klopp’s side put Newcastle out of their misery. But after Salah had dragged another chance into the side-netting, following an interception of Sean Longstaff’s sloppy pass, home nerves began to show.
By then, Bruce had replaced the ineffective Joelinton with Wilson.
Willock followed him into the fray a few minutes later after being left disappointed by Bruce’s decision not to reward his three recent goals with a starting place.
Then, in injury time, came the mayhem.
Wilson thought he had equalised when he scrambled the ball home after his initial shot had been saved by Kop keeper Alisson.
But the ball had bounced off his arm before he provided the finishing
touch and the letter of the law put Toon’s celebrations back on ice.
But Liverpool then failed to deal with Richie’s cross and, when Willock’s shot flew off Fabinho and past Alisson, this time there was no reprieve for the champons.
“Listen, we rode our luck at times, but has any team ever scored twice in the last minute at Anfield?” asked a relieved, but still disappointed, Bruce.
“We could be going home with a win. I might be being a bit greedy, but that’s how I feel.
“Callum’s goal should have stood. But, once again, we have shown our resilience.
“Even when we don’t play well, we have always got an attitude.”