ADD this to the brilliant and bonkers list of classics when these sides collide.

Rarely does a Newcastle and Liverpool game disappoint. Rarely does it result in a Newcastle win either. It didn’t here but the draw was the least the Magpies deserved. This was much more like it, Newcastle – for long parts – back to their suffocating best.

Twice pegged back, Newcastle looked set for devastating déjà vu until Fabian Schar stretched and struck to make it 3-3 just three minutes from time.

Just when it looked like Newcastle were going to have to stomach another Liverpool sucker punch. Sixteen months after Darwin Nunez stunned the Magpies with a late double at St James’ Park, Mo Salah followed suit. How harsh it would have been on Newcastle had they ended up empty handed.

They deservedly led after a dominant first half thanks to Alexander Isak’s opener. Liverpool belatedly came to the party and levelled just after the break through Curtis Jones, but Anthony Gordon then struck against the club he briefly looked set to join in the summer. That sparked Arne Slot to turn to his bench and the introduction of Trent Alexander Arnold changed and looked like settling the game. Twice he teed up Salah to score.

“We must reach our own high standards,” demanded Eddie Howe in his programme notes on Wednesday night. The head coach’s call was answered.

Howe’s constant call is for consistency. If Newcastle play like this every time they step over the white line then there shouldn’t be many more inquests like the ones that followed the West Ham defeat or Crystal Palace draw.

“Offensively we know we can create more” was another Howe line in the programme on the back of his side failing to muster a single shot on target at Palace.

They did just that but looked set to pay the ultimate price for spurned first half opportunities before Schar came to the home side’s rescue.

Liverpool headed for Tyneside on a 16-match unbeaten run in all competitions and it wasn’t just results of recent months that favoured the visitors. Not since 2015 – 15 attempts – had Newcastle managed to beat Liverpool. Clearly for that run to end, the Magpies had to unsettle and make life difficult for the league leaders.

They did exactly that from the off. Bruno crunched into one midfield challenge to start a move that led to an early Sandro Tonali effort, then the Italian robbed Ryan Gravenberch of the ball in the middle of his own half.

You’d have thought Liverpool would have learnt from those early exchanges but at the midway point of the first half it was Salah who was punished for his dawdling inside his own half. Gordon picked the pocket of the Egyptian and Isak picked out Murphy, whose low shot had Kelleher beaten but thumped off the base of the post. Isak was in the mood and then weaved this way and that before finding Bruno, who was denied by Kelleher.

Flustered Liverpool might have been but they still had their moments in the opening half an hour. Alexis Mac Allister brought a fine save from Nick Pope before going even closer from the resulting corner when his low shot was deflected onto the outside of the post.

It was the league’s best defence that looked far more rattled than Newcastle’s though and only a last ditch Joe Gomez tackle denied the charging Lewis Hall after another Isak through-ball.

Gomez and his goalkeeper Kelleher could do nothing to deny Isak the opener 10 minutes before the break though, the striker receiving the ball from Bruno, turning and unleashing an unstoppable drive into the top corner.

The lead should have been instantly doubled when Gordon pounced on a Gomez mistake and raced through one-on-one only to be denied by Kelleher. Perhaps it was the frustration of a below-par first half that led Virgil van Dijk to then appear to charge his shoulder into Gordon’s cheek. The visiting skipper was fortunate to stay on the pitch and Liverpool were fortunate to only trail by a single goal at the break.

The obvious fear for Newcastle was that they’d pay the price for not taking full advantage of their first half superiority. As good as the Magpies were in the opening period, surely the visitors would come to the party at some stage?

And those fears were realised within five minutes of the restart. Salah was contained in the first half but got behind Hall down the right and cut back for Jones, who had escaped the attention of Tonali and finished first time.

It very nearly got worse for the Magpies. Salah’s knock-down only needed a touch but the stretching Darwin Nunez couldn’t find it. Suddenly it was the hosts who looked panicked and flustered. Gordon tried to change the mood when he charged towards the Liverpool box, his shot blocked by Gomez. And Gordon did change the mood just after the hour mark.

Played in by Isak, the winger cut in from the left and coolly slotted beyond Kelleher. Isak thought he’d extended Newcastle’s lead when he found the same corner as Gordon five minutes later only to be denied by the offside flag.

Alexander Arnold made an instant impact, taking full advantage of a Joelinton mistake and crossing for Salah to instinctively turn home.

And Salah looked to have won it for the visitors with his close-range finish seven minutes from time only for Schar to level four minutes later.

There was still time for a late Liverpool penalty claim but the protests were dismissed by the referee and VAR.