diff --git a/src/journal/test-journal-interleaving.c b/src/journal/test-journal-interleaving.c
index a27ffe5606..801ebe7cf5 100644
--- a/src/journal/test-journal-interleaving.c
+++ b/src/journal/test-journal-interleaving.c
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ static void test_skip_one(void (*setup)(void)) {
          */
         assert_ret(sd_journal_open_directory(&j, t, 0));
         assert_ret(sd_journal_seek_head(j));
+        assert_ret(sd_journal_previous(j) == 0);
         assert_ret(sd_journal_next(j));
         test_check_numbers_down(j, 4);
         sd_journal_close(j);
@@ -166,6 +167,7 @@ static void test_skip_one(void (*setup)(void)) {
          */
         assert_ret(sd_journal_open_directory(&j, t, 0));
         assert_ret(sd_journal_seek_tail(j));
+        assert_ret(sd_journal_next(j) == 0);
         assert_ret(sd_journal_previous(j));
         test_check_numbers_up(j, 4);
         sd_journal_close(j);
@@ -174,6 +176,7 @@ static void test_skip_one(void (*setup)(void)) {
          */
         assert_ret(sd_journal_open_directory(&j, t, 0));
         assert_ret(sd_journal_seek_tail(j));
+        assert_ret(sd_journal_next(j) == 0);
         assert_ret(r = sd_journal_previous_skip(j, 4));
         assert_se(r == 4);
         test_check_numbers_down(j, 4);
@@ -183,6 +186,7 @@ static void test_skip_one(void (*setup)(void)) {
          */
         assert_ret(sd_journal_open_directory(&j, t, 0));
         assert_ret(sd_journal_seek_head(j));
+        assert_ret(sd_journal_previous(j) == 0);
         assert_ret(r = sd_journal_next_skip(j, 4));
         assert_se(r == 4);
         test_check_numbers_up(j, 4);
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-journal/sd-journal.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-journal/sd-journal.c
index 60e352022f..3318f9217d 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-journal/sd-journal.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-journal/sd-journal.c
@@ -607,9 +607,9 @@ static int find_location_for_match(
                 /* FIXME: missing: find by monotonic */
 
                 if (j->current_location.type == LOCATION_HEAD)
-                        return journal_file_next_entry_for_data(f, d, DIRECTION_DOWN, ret, offset);
+                        return direction == DIRECTION_DOWN ? journal_file_next_entry_for_data(f, d, DIRECTION_DOWN, ret, offset) : 0;
                 if (j->current_location.type == LOCATION_TAIL)
-                        return journal_file_next_entry_for_data(f, d, DIRECTION_UP, ret, offset);
+                        return direction == DIRECTION_UP ? journal_file_next_entry_for_data(f, d, DIRECTION_UP, ret, offset) : 0;
                 if (j->current_location.seqnum_set && sd_id128_equal(j->current_location.seqnum_id, f->header->seqnum_id))
                         return journal_file_move_to_entry_by_seqnum_for_data(f, d, j->current_location.seqnum, direction, ret, offset);
                 if (j->current_location.monotonic_set) {
@@ -702,9 +702,9 @@ static int find_location_with_matches(
                 /* No matches is simple */
 
                 if (j->current_location.type == LOCATION_HEAD)
-                        return journal_file_next_entry(f, 0, DIRECTION_DOWN, ret, offset);
+                        return direction == DIRECTION_DOWN ? journal_file_next_entry(f, 0, DIRECTION_DOWN, ret, offset) : 0;
                 if (j->current_location.type == LOCATION_TAIL)
-                        return journal_file_next_entry(f, 0, DIRECTION_UP, ret, offset);
+                        return direction == DIRECTION_UP ? journal_file_next_entry(f, 0, DIRECTION_UP, ret, offset) : 0;
                 if (j->current_location.seqnum_set && sd_id128_equal(j->current_location.seqnum_id, f->header->seqnum_id))
                         return journal_file_move_to_entry_by_seqnum(f, j->current_location.seqnum, direction, ret, offset);
                 if (j->current_location.monotonic_set) {