diff --git a/lib/time_sniffer.rb b/lib/time_sniffer.rb
index 75e98da9..58ff0392 100644
--- a/lib/time_sniffer.rb
+++ b/lib/time_sniffer.rb
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ class TimeSniffer
   end
 
   DATE_SEPARATOR = /[-\/]/
-  DATE_REGEX = /(\d{1,2})#{DATE_SEPARATOR}(\d{1,2})#{DATE_SEPARATOR}(\d{2,4})/
+  DATE_REGEX = /((?:^|\s)\d{1,2})#{DATE_SEPARATOR}(\d{1,2})#{DATE_SEPARATOR}(\d{2,4})/
 
   matcher(:date, DATE_REGEX) do |m|
     Parser.new(input, @context).parse_range
diff --git a/spec/lib/time_sniffer_spec.rb b/spec/lib/time_sniffer_spec.rb
index 1f81a0f4..5005c44f 100644
--- a/spec/lib/time_sniffer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/time_sniffer_spec.rb
@@ -208,4 +208,9 @@ describe TimeSniffer do
   it "should not find a time in random numbers and an emoji" do
     expect_parsed_as_nil("15😊00")
   end
+
+  it "shouldnt match a date starting with the year" do
+    expect_parsed_as_nil("2020-03-27")
+    expect_parsed_as_nil("foo 2020-03-27")
+  end
 end