diff --git a/src/object.c b/src/object.c
index d14ca8566..8b07197f1 100644
--- a/src/object.c
+++ b/src/object.c
@@ -117,7 +117,10 @@ int git_object_lookup_prefix(git_object **object_out, git_repository *repo, cons
 		object = git_cache_get(&repo->objects, id);
 		if (object != NULL) {
 			if (type != GIT_OBJ_ANY && type != object->type)
+			{
+				git_object_close(object);
 				return git__throw(GIT_EINVALIDTYPE, "Failed to lookup object. The given type does not match the type on the ODB");
+			}
 
 			*object_out = object;
 			return GIT_SUCCESS;
diff --git a/tests/t09-tree.c b/tests/t09-tree.c
index be21e4e33..543aea8d4 100644
--- a/tests/t09-tree.c
+++ b/tests/t09-tree.c
@@ -104,9 +104,11 @@ BEGIN_TEST(read1, "read a tree from the repository")
 
 	/* GH-86: git_object_lookup() should also check the type if the object comes from the cache */
 	must_be_true(git_object_lookup(&obj, repo, &id, GIT_OBJ_TREE) == 0);
+	must_be_true(obj != NULL);
 	git_object_close(obj);
+	obj = NULL;
 	must_be_true(git_object_lookup(&obj, repo, &id, GIT_OBJ_BLOB) == GIT_EINVALIDTYPE);
-	git_object_close(obj);
+	must_be_true(obj == NULL);
 
 	entry = git_tree_entry_byname(tree, "README");
 	must_be_true(entry != NULL);
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ BEGIN_TEST(read1, "read a tree from the repository")
 	must_be_true(strcmp(git_tree_entry_name(entry), "README") == 0);
 
 	must_pass(git_tree_entry_2object(&obj, repo, entry));
+	must_be_true(obj != NULL);
 
 	git_object_close(obj);
 	git_tree_close(tree);