diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 088c5eb685..2649607974 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2006-08-31  Michael Smith  <msmith@fluendo.com>
+
+	* gst/gstutils.c: (gst_element_link_pads),
+	(gst_element_link_pads_filtered):
+	  Ensure that we set a capsfilter to NULL if we failed to link it
+	  when doing filtered linking, to avoid criticals.
+
+	  No need to check for unreffing srcpad, which is explicly NULLed
+	  above (a trivial code cleanup).
+
 2006-08-31  Wim Taymans  <wim@fluendo.com>
 
 	* docs/design/part-gstghostpad.txt:
diff --git a/gst/gstutils.c b/gst/gstutils.c
index bb11f6d9c7..2fe1a8ff6e 100644
--- a/gst/gstutils.c
+++ b/gst/gstutils.c
@@ -1482,13 +1482,8 @@ gst_element_link_pads (GstElement * src, const gchar * srcpadname,
     GST_CAT_DEBUG (GST_CAT_ELEMENT_PADS, "no link possible from %s to %s:%s",
         GST_ELEMENT_NAME (src), GST_DEBUG_PAD_NAME (destpad));
     gst_object_unref (destpad);
-    if (srcpad)
-      gst_object_unref (srcpad);
     return FALSE;
   } else {
-    if (srcpad)
-      gst_object_unref (srcpad);
-    srcpad = NULL;
     if (destpad)
       gst_object_unref (destpad);
     destpad = NULL;
@@ -1598,8 +1593,9 @@ gst_element_link_pads_filtered (GstElement * src, const gchar * srcpadname,
       return TRUE;
     } else {
       GST_INFO ("Could not link elements");
+      gst_element_set_state (capsfilter, GST_STATE_NULL);
+      /* this will unlink and unref as appropriate */
       gst_bin_remove (GST_BIN (GST_OBJECT_PARENT (capsfilter)), capsfilter);
-      /* will unref and unlink as appropriate */
       return FALSE;
     }
   } else {