diff --git a/bin/fail2ban-regex b/bin/fail2ban-regex
index fc39c958..014bfb2f 100755
--- a/bin/fail2ban-regex
+++ b/bin/fail2ban-regex
@@ -297,6 +297,14 @@ class Fail2banRegex(object):
 				pass
 			else:
 				self.setJournalMatch(shlex.split(journalmatch))
+			# Read out and set possible value for journalmatch
+			try:
+				datepattern = reader.get("Init", "datepattern")
+			except (NoSectionError, NoOptionError):
+				# No [Init].datepattern found.
+				pass
+			else:
+				self.setDatePattern(datepattern)
 		else:
 			print "Use %11s line : %s" % (regex, shortstr(value))
 			regex_values = [RegexStat(value)]