diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index 4c9680acb..5adb52d82 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -961,8 +961,7 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			die_errno("Cannot lstat '%s'", ent->name);
 
 		if (pathspec.nr)
-			matches = match_pathspec(&pathspec, ent->name,
-						 len, 0, NULL, 0);
+			matches = dir_path_match(ent, &pathspec, 0, NULL);
 
 		if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
 			if (remove_directories || (matches == MATCHED_EXACTLY)) {