diff --git a/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/util/IssueExtractor.java b/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/util/IssueExtractor.java
index 480a70a..61c7ebe 100644
--- a/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/util/IssueExtractor.java
+++ b/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/util/IssueExtractor.java
@@ -42,10 +42,9 @@
       Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(haystack);
 
       while (matcher.find()) {
-        int groupCount = matcher.groupCount();
-        for (int i = 1; i <= groupCount; i++) {
-          String group = matcher.group(i);
-          issues.add(group);
+        String issueId = extractMatchedWorkItems(matcher);
+        if (issueId != null) {
+          issues.add(issueId);
         }
       }
     }
@@ -53,6 +52,14 @@
     return issues.toArray(new String[issues.size()]);
   }
 
+  public String extractMatchedWorkItems(Matcher matcher) {
+    int groupCount = matcher.groupCount();
+    if (groupCount >= 1)
+      return matcher.group(1);
+    else
+      return null;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Gets the regular expression used to identify issue ids.
    * @return the regular expression, or {@code null}, if there is no pattern
diff --git a/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/validation/ItsValidateComment.java b/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/validation/ItsValidateComment.java
index 57a9ce5..ba44435 100644
--- a/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/validation/ItsValidateComment.java
+++ b/hooks-its/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/hooks/validation/ItsValidateComment.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
       Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(message);
       associationPolicy = entry.getValue();
       if (matcher.find()) {
-        issueId = extractMatchedWorkItems(matcher);
+        issueId = issueExtractor.extractMatchedWorkItems(matcher);
         log.debug("Pattern matched on comment '{}' with issue id '{}'",
             message.trim(), issueId);
         break;
@@ -150,15 +150,6 @@
     return regexMap;
   }
 
-  private String extractMatchedWorkItems(Matcher matcher) {
-    int groupCount = matcher.groupCount();
-    if (groupCount >= 1)
-      return matcher.group(1);
-    else
-      return null;
-  }
-
-
   @Override
   public List<CommitValidationMessage> onCommitReceived(
       CommitReceivedEvent receiveEvent) throws CommitValidationException {