diff --git a/git-fetch.sh b/git-fetch.sh
index 767ca61ca6..125bcea1b6 100755
--- a/git-fetch.sh
+++ b/git-fetch.sh
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ then
 		sed -e '
 			/\^/d
 			s/^[^	]*	//
-			s/.*/&:&/')
+			s/.*/.&:&/')
 	if test "$#" -gt 1
 	then
 		# remote URL plus explicit refspecs; we need to merge them.