diff --git a/reframe/core/pipeline.py b/reframe/core/pipeline.py
index a5cbb542e..c3878b78b 100644
--- a/reframe/core/pipeline.py
+++ b/reframe/core/pipeline.py
@@ -3180,6 +3180,7 @@ def _fmt_errors(errlist, indent=''):
         # Check the performance variables against their references.
         errors = _PerfErrorBuilder()
         for key, values in self._perfvalues.items():
+            tag = key.split(':')[-1]
             val, ref, low_thres, high_thres, unit, _ = values
 
             # Verify that val is a number
diff --git a/unittests/test_pipeline.py b/unittests/test_pipeline.py
index 8cd988ffa..5bd2ec62a 100644
--- a/unittests/test_pipeline.py
+++ b/unittests/test_pipeline.py
@@ -2348,7 +2348,17 @@ def reftuple(status):
     if exctype is None:
         _run_sanity(perftest, *local_exec_ctx)
     else:
-        with pytest.raises(exctype):
+        def _validate_exc(err):
+            if value2_status == 'pass':
+                print(err)
+                return 'value2' not in err.args[0]
+            if value1_status == 'pass':
+                print(err)
+                return 'value1' not in err.args[0]
+
+            return True
+
+        with pytest.raises(exctype, check=_validate_exc):
             _run_sanity(perftest, *local_exec_ctx)