diff --git a/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer.go b/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer.go
index e9ac1b9e3..591e26d25 100644
--- a/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer.go
+++ b/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer.go
@@ -169,8 +169,17 @@ func substitute(m resmap.ResMap, to *types.ReplTarget, replacement interface{})
 				tmp = append(tmp, part)
 			}
 			p = strings.Join(tmp, "[")
+			// Exclude substring portion from dot replacer
+			// substring can contain IP or any dot separated string
+			substringPattern := ""
+			p, substringPattern = extractSubstringPattern(p)
 
 			pathSlice := strings.Split(p, ".")
+			// append back the extracted substring
+			if len(substringPattern) > 0 {
+				pathSlice[len(pathSlice)-1] = pathSlice[len(pathSlice)-1] + "%" +
+					substringPattern + "%"
+			}
 			for i, part := range pathSlice {
 				pathSlice[i] = strings.ReplaceAll(part, dotReplacer, ".")
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer_test.go b/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer_test.go
index 6bc5f37b5..894bdd6a3 100644
--- a/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer_test.go
+++ b/pkg/document/plugin/replacement/v1alpha1/transformer_test.go
@@ -158,6 +158,49 @@ kind: ReplacementTransformer
 metadata:
   name: notImportantHere
 replacements:
+- source:
+    value: 1.17.0
+  target:
+    objref:
+      kind: Deployment
+    fieldrefs:
+    - spec.template.spec.containers[name=nginx-tagged].image%1.7.9%
+`,
+
+			in: `
+group: apps
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: deploy1
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - image: nginx:1.7.9
+        name: nginx-tagged
+`,
+			expectedOut: `apiVersion: v1
+group: apps
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: deploy1
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - image: nginx:1.17.0
+        name: nginx-tagged
+`,
+		},
+
+		{
+			cfg: `
+apiVersion: airshipit.org/v1alpha1
+kind: ReplacementTransformer
+metadata:
+  name: notImportantHere
+replacements:
 - source:
     objref:
       kind: Pod