diff --git a/check_lysrdiff b/check_lysrdiff
index 9de562487037dcf56af88abcac18c4fe7f198b70..8a5f1a6d60d0ffebbba8b1cf1cd57196311b424d 100755
--- a/check_lysrdiff
+++ b/check_lysrdiff
@@ -85,20 +85,25 @@ echo $acttime MARKER \
 | sed -e '0,/MARKER$/d' \
 > $state-active
 
+FAILED=`grep -c -- '-fail$' $state`
 STALE=`wc -l < $state-stale`
-
 ACTIVITY=`wc -l < $state-active`
 
-if grep -q -- '-fail$' $state
+if [ $FAILED -gt 0 ]
 then
-  echo -n "CRITICAL - Failed backups: "
+  echo -n "CRITICAL - $FAILED failed backups"
+  if [ $STALE -gt 0 ]
+  then
+      echo -n " (also $STALE stale)"
+  fi
+  echo -n ": "
   sed -n 's/-fail$//p' $state \
     |awk 'BEGIN { sz = 0 }
 	  NR > 1 && sz < 198 { printf ", "; sz += 2 }
 	  sz < 200 { printf "%s", $3; sz += length($3) }
 	  END { if (sz >= 200) printf ", others" } ' \
     |sed s'/, \([^,]*\)$/ and \1/'
-  echo '. | activity='$ACTIVITY stale=$STALE failed=`grep -c -- '-fail$' $state`
+  echo '. | activity='$ACTIVITY stale=$STALE failed=$FAILED
   rm $state $state-stale $state-active
 
   exit 2
@@ -106,7 +111,7 @@ fi
 
 if [ $STALE -gt 0 ]
 then
-  echo -n "CRITICAL - Stale backups: "
+  echo -n "CRITICAL - $STALE stale backups: "
   sed 's/-start$//' $state-stale \
     |awk 'BEGIN { sz = 0 }
 	  NR > 1 && sz < 198 { printf ", "; sz += 2 }