diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
index a0382a04d..db9f731d2 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
@@ -823,7 +823,7 @@ class BasicEntityPersister
                     
                     if (isset($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field])) {
                         $value = $this->_em->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($value);
-                        $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($assoc['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
+                        $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field]['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
                     }
 
                     $criteria[$quotedJoinTable . "." . $relationKeyColumn] = $value;
@@ -847,7 +847,7 @@ class BasicEntityPersister
                     
                     if (isset($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field])) {
                         $value = $this->_em->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($value);
-                        $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($assoc['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
+                        $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field]['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
                     }
                     
                     $criteria[$quotedJoinTable . "." . $relationKeyColumn] = $value;
@@ -1355,7 +1355,7 @@ class BasicEntityPersister
                 
                 if (isset($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field])) {
                     $value = $this->_em->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($value);
-                    $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($assoc['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
+                    $value = $value[$this->_em->getClassMetadata($sourceClass->associationMappings[$field]['targetEntity'])->identifier[0]];
                 }
                 
                 $criteria[$tableAlias . "." . $targetKeyColumn] = $value;