diff --git a/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/clean.sh b/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/clean.sh
index f0158b1710..935d91bba8 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/clean.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/clean.sh
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 # information regarding copyright ownership.
 
 rm -f */named.conf */named.memstats */ans.run */named.recursing */named.run
-rm -f dig.out*
 rm -f ans4/norespond
-rm -f ns3/named.stats ns3/named_dump.db
 rm -f burst.input.*
+rm -f dig.out*
 rm -f ns*/managed-keys.bind*
+rm -f ns3/named.stats ns3/named.stats.prev ns3/named_dump.db
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/tests.sh
index 9ca4ff7a7e..443556a71f 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/fetchlimit/tests.sh
@@ -183,11 +183,9 @@ status=$((status+ret))
 
 echo_i "checking drop statistics"
 rm -f ns3/named.stats
+touch ns3/named.stats
 $RNDCCMD stats
-for try in 1 2 3 4 5; do
-    [ -f ns3/named.stats ] && break
-    sleep 1
-done
+wait_for_log 5 "queries dropped due to recursive client limit" ns3/named.stats || ret=1
 drops=`grep 'queries dropped due to recursive client limit' ns3/named.stats | sed 's/\([0-9][0-9]*\) queries.*/\1/'`
 [ "${drops:-0}" -ne 0 ] || ret=1
 if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi