diff --git a/lib/html-paths.js b/lib/html-paths.js
index b881131..04bc655 100644
--- a/lib/html-paths.js
+++ b/lib/html-paths.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ function Element(tagName, attributes, options) {
     this.attributes = attributes || {};
     this.fresh = options.fresh;
 }
-    
+
 Element.prototype.matchesElement = function(element) {
     return this.tagNames[element.tagName] && _.isEqual(this.attributes || {}, element.attributes || {});
 };
diff --git a/lib/html/simplify.js b/lib/html/simplify.js
index 52a1b0a..291e5d4 100644
--- a/lib/html/simplify.js
+++ b/lib/html/simplify.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function simplifyNodes(nodes) {
     
     nodes.map(simplify).forEach(function(child) {
         var lastChild = children[children.length - 1];
-        if (child.type === "element" && !child.tag.fresh && lastChild && _.isEqual(lastChild.tag, child.tag)) {
+        if (child.type === "element" && !child.tag.fresh && lastChild && child.tag.matchesElement(lastChild.tag)) {
             child.children.forEach(function(grandChild) {
                 // Mutation is fine since simplifying elements create a copy of the children.
                 lastChild.children.push(grandChild);
diff --git a/tests/html/simplify.tests.js b/tests/html/simplify.tests.js
index 7893663..7e17903 100644
--- a/tests/html/simplify.tests.js
+++ b/tests/html/simplify.tests.js
@@ -33,4 +33,17 @@ describe("simplify", function() {
             fragment([
                 pathToNode(path, [text("Hello"), text(" there")])]));
     });
+    
+    test("non-fresh can collapse into preceding non-fresh element", function() {
+        var freshPath = htmlPaths.elements([
+            htmlPaths.element("p", {}, {fresh: true})]);
+        var nonFreshPath = htmlPaths.elements([
+            htmlPaths.element("p", {}, {fresh: false})]);
+        assert.deepEqual(
+            html.simplify(fragment([
+                pathToNode(freshPath, [text("Hello")]),
+                pathToNode(nonFreshPath, [text(" there")])])),
+            fragment([
+                pathToNode(freshPath, [text("Hello"), text(" there")])]));
+    });
 });