diff --git a/fuzz/fuzz_targets/deserialize_br.rs b/fuzz/fuzz_targets/deserialize_br.rs
index f6d807cb..bc9d5931 100644
--- a/fuzz/fuzz_targets/deserialize_br.rs
+++ b/fuzz/fuzz_targets/deserialize_br.rs
@@ -9,14 +9,20 @@ use libfuzzer_sys::fuzz_target;
 
 fuzz_target!(|data: &[u8]| {
     let mut allocator = Allocator::new();
-    let program = match node_from_bytes_backrefs(&mut allocator, data) {
-        Err(_) => {
-            assert!(node_from_bytes_backrefs_old(&mut allocator, data).is_err());
-            return;
+    let res1 = node_from_bytes_backrefs(&mut allocator, data);
+    let node_count = allocator.node_count();
+    let res2 = node_from_bytes_backrefs_old(&mut allocator, data);
+    // check that the new implementation creates the same number of nodes as the old one
+    assert_eq!(node_count * 2, allocator.node_count());  
+    match (res1, res2) {
+        (Err(e1), Err(e2)) => {
+            assert_eq!(e1, e2);
         }
-        Ok(r) => r,
-    };
-
-    let program_old = node_from_bytes_backrefs_old(&mut allocator, data).unwrap();
-    assert!(node_eq::node_eq(&allocator, program, program_old));
+        (Ok(n1), Ok(n2)) => {
+            assert!(node_eq::node_eq(&allocator, n1, n2));
+        }
+        _ => {
+            panic!("mismatching results");
+        }
+    }
 });