diff --git a/builtin/fetch-pack.c b/builtin/fetch-pack.c
index 056ccb8667..fb2a423b51 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch-pack.c
@@ -1018,10 +1018,10 @@ int cmd_fetch_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	close(fd[0]);
 	close(fd[1]);
 	if (finish_connect(conn))
-		ref = NULL;
-	ret = !ref;
+		return 1;
 
-	if (!ret && sought.nr) {
+	ret = !ref;
+	if (ref && sought.nr) {
 		/* If the heads to pull were given, we should have
 		 * consumed all of them by matching the remote.
 		 * Otherwise, 'git fetch remote no-such-ref' would