diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index d20e6b7..c0ad43a 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -84,7 +84,13 @@ being removed.
         Path to a file which contains a list of images to exclude, one
         image tag per line.
 
+You also can use basic pattern matching to exclude images with generic tags.
 
+.. code::
+
+    user/repositoryA:*
+    user/repositoryB:?.?
+    user/repositoryC-*:tag
 
 dcstop
 ------
diff --git a/docker_custodian/docker_gc.py b/docker_custodian/docker_gc.py
index 2d5e04d..e2c6c89 100644
--- a/docker_custodian/docker_gc.py
+++ b/docker_custodian/docker_gc.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Remove old docker containers and images that are no longer in use.
 
 """
 import argparse
+import fnmatch
 import logging
 import sys
 
@@ -90,7 +91,10 @@ def filter_excluded_images(images, exclude_set):
         image_tags = image_summary.get('RepoTags')
         if no_image_tags(image_tags):
             return True
-        return not set(image_tags) & exclude_set
+        for exclude_pattern in exclude_set:
+            if fnmatch.filter(image_tags, exclude_pattern):
+                return False
+        return True
 
     return filter(include_image, images)
 
diff --git a/tests/docker_gc_test.py b/tests/docker_gc_test.py
index 77cdbd8..221fb11 100644
--- a/tests/docker_gc_test.py
+++ b/tests/docker_gc_test.py
@@ -178,6 +178,47 @@ def test_filter_excluded_images():
     assert list(actual) == expected
 
 
+def test_filter_excluded_images_advanced():
+    exclude_set = set([
+        'user/one:*',
+        'user/foo:tag*',
+        'user/repo-*:tag',
+    ])
+    images = [
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['<none>:<none>'],
+                'Id': 'babababababaabababab'
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/one:latest', 'user/one:abcd']
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/foo:test']
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/foo:tag123']
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/repo-1:tag']
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/repo-2:tag']
+            },
+
+    ]
+    expected = [
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['<none>:<none>'],
+                'Id': 'babababababaabababab'
+            },
+            {
+                'RepoTags': ['user/foo:test'],
+            },
+    ]
+    actual = docker_gc.filter_excluded_images(images, exclude_set)
+    assert list(actual) == expected
+
+
 def test_is_image_old(image, now):
     assert docker_gc.is_image_old(image, now)