diff --git a/src/data_factory_testing_framework/_expression_runtime/data_factory_expression/expression_transformer.py b/src/data_factory_testing_framework/_expression_runtime/data_factory_expression/expression_transformer.py
index d9bb5d24..eea6dc3d 100644
--- a/src/data_factory_testing_framework/_expression_runtime/data_factory_expression/expression_transformer.py
+++ b/src/data_factory_testing_framework/_expression_runtime/data_factory_expression/expression_transformer.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def __init__(self) -> None:
 
         expression_grammar = f"""
             expression_start: "@" expression_evaluation
-            expression_evaluation: (expression_logical_bool | expression_branch | expression_call) ((("." EXPRESSION_PARAMETER_NAME) | EXPRESSION_ARRAY_INDEX)+)?
+            expression_evaluation: (expression_logical_bool | expression_branch | expression_call) ((("." EXPRESSION_PARAMETER_NAME) | EXPRESSION_ARRAY_INDEX)+)? EXPRESSION_WS*
             ?expression_call: expression_function_call
                               // used to translate to expression_pipeline_reference
                               | expression_datafactory_parameters_reference
diff --git a/tests/unit/functions/test_data_factory_testing_framework_expression_evaluator.py b/tests/unit/functions/test_data_factory_testing_framework_expression_evaluator.py
index e0ba1d95..0a39d6cf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/functions/test_data_factory_testing_framework_expression_evaluator.py
+++ b/tests/unit/functions/test_data_factory_testing_framework_expression_evaluator.py
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
             id="linked_service_reference",
         ),
         p("@item()", PipelineRunState(iteration_item="value"), "@item()", "value", id="item_reference"),
+        p("@item() ", PipelineRunState(iteration_item="value"), "@item() ", "value", id="item_reference_with_ws"),
         p("@concat('a', 'b' )", PipelineRunState(), "@concat('a', 'b' )", "ab", id="function_call"),
         p(
             "@concat('https://example.com/jobs/', '123''', concat('&', 'abc,'))",