diff --git a/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js b/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
index b00050a2..c66fc9d1 100644
--- a/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
+++ b/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
@@ -1113,7 +1113,7 @@ ts.filter = {
 									result = filterMatched;
 								// Look for match, and add child row data for matching
 								} else {
-									exact = (iExact + childRowText).indexOf(iFilter);
+									exact = (iExact + childRowText).indexOf( ts.filter.parseFilter(table, iFilter, columnIndex, parsed[columnIndex]) );
 									result = ( (!wo.filter_startsWith && exact >= 0) || (wo.filter_startsWith && exact === 0) );
 								}
 							}