diff --git a/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression.go b/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression.go
index 1cfe0a0fd..859714489 100644
--- a/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression.go
+++ b/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression.go
@@ -250,12 +250,18 @@ func ResolveRef(subject Evaluable, spec string) (string, bool, error) {
 		switch v := obj.(type) {
 		case string:
 			obj = v
+			ref = ref[1:]
 		case map[string]string:
+			if len(ref) > 1 {
+				key = strings.Join(ref, "/")
+				log.Debug("  - using tailing ref %s as map key...", key)
+			}
 			value, ok := v[key]
 			if !ok {
 				return "", false, nil
 			}
 			obj = value
+			ref = nil
 		case error:
 			return "", false, exprError("%s: failed to resolve %q: %v", subject, spec, v)
 		default:
@@ -265,9 +271,8 @@ func ResolveRef(subject Evaluable, spec string) (string, bool, error) {
 					subject, spec, obj)
 			}
 			obj = e.Eval(key)
+			ref = ref[1:]
 		}
-
-		ref = ref[1:]
 	}
 
 	str, ok := obj.(string)
diff --git a/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression_test.go b/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression_test.go
index 52829c9c3..546906604 100644
--- a/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression_test.go
+++ b/pkg/resmgr/apis/expression_test.go
@@ -86,7 +86,12 @@ func TestResolveRefAndKeyValue(t *testing.T) {
 	defer logger.Flush()
 
 	pod := newEvaluable("P1", "pns", "pqos",
-		map[string]string{"l1": "plone", "l2": "pltwo", "l5": "plfive"}, nil, nil)
+		map[string]string{
+			"l1":             "plone",
+			"l2":             "pltwo",
+			"l5":             "plfive",
+			"io.test/label1": "io.test/value1",
+		}, nil, nil)
 
 	tcases := []struct {
 		name      string
@@ -100,7 +105,11 @@ func TestResolveRefAndKeyValue(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name: "test resolving references",
 			subject: newEvaluable("C1", "cns", "cqos",
-				map[string]string{"l1": "clone", "l2": "cltwo", "l3": "clthree"},
+				map[string]string{
+					"l1": "clone",
+					"l2": "cltwo",
+					"l3": "clthree",
+				},
 				map[string]string{"t1": "ctone", "t2": "cttwo", "t3": "ctthree"}, pod),
 			keys: []string{
 				"name", "namespace", "qosclass",
@@ -111,34 +120,35 @@ func TestResolveRefAndKeyValue(t *testing.T) {
 				"pod/labels/l3",
 				"pod/labels/l4",
 				"pod/labels/l5",
+				"pod/labels/io.test/label1",
 				":,-pod/qosclass,pod/namespace,pod/name,name",
 			},
 			values: []string{
 				"C1", "cns", "cqos",
 				"clone", "cltwo", "clthree", "",
 				"ctone", "cttwo", "ctthree", "",
-				"plone", "pltwo", "", "", "plfive",
+				"plone", "pltwo", "", "", "plfive", "io.test/value1",
 				"",
 			},
 			keyvalues: []string{
 				"C1", "cns", "cqos",
 				"clone", "cltwo", "clthree", "",
 				"ctone", "cttwo", "ctthree", "",
-				"plone", "pltwo", "", "", "plfive",
+				"plone", "pltwo", "", "", "plfive", "io.test/value1",
 				"pqos-pns-P1-C1",
 			},
 			ok: []bool{
 				true, true, true,
 				true, true, true, false,
 				true, true, true, false,
-				true, true, false, false, true,
+				true, true, false, false, true, true,
 				false,
 			},
 			error: []bool{
 				false, false, false,
 				false, false, false, false,
 				false, false, false, false,
-				false, false, false, false, false,
+				false, false, false, false, false, false,
 				true,
 			},
 		},