diff --git a/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go b/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
index ced6cf33a..37baf4c69 100644
--- a/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
+++ b/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func (ref *Reference) validateRepo() error {
 	}
 	// Makes sure the repo results in a parsable URL (similar to what is done
 	// with containerd reference parsing)
-	_, err := url.Parse(ref.Repo)
+	_, err := url.Parse("//" + ref.Repo)
 	return err
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go b/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
index bb53ebab8..6e35cb531 100644
--- a/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
+++ b/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
@@ -109,6 +109,13 @@ func TestParseReference(t *testing.T) {
 	is.Equal("123", ref.Tag)
 	is.Equal("localhost:5000/x/y/z:123", ref.FullName())
 
+	s = "10.21.134.123:5000/x/y/z:latest"
+	ref, err = ParseReference(s)
+	is.NoError(err)
+	is.Equal("10.21.134.123:5000/x/y/z", ref.Repo)
+	is.Equal("latest", ref.Tag)
+	is.Equal("10.21.134.123:5000/x/y/z:latest", ref.FullName())
+
 	s = "localhost:5000/x/y/z:123:x"
 	_, err = ParseReference(s)
 	is.Error(err, "ref contains too many colons (3)")