diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
index 6652b05f2..d7f8c6156 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ func (ic *GenericController) createUpstreams(data []interface{}) map[string]*ing
 				if serviceUpstream {
 					endpoint, err := ic.getServiceClusterEndpoint(svcKey, &path.Backend)
 					if err != nil {
-						glog.Errorf("Failed to get service cluster endpoint for service %s: %v", svcKey, err)
+						glog.Errorf("failed to get service cluster endpoint for service %s: %v", svcKey, err)
 					} else {
 						upstreams[name].Endpoints = []ingress.Endpoint{endpoint}
 					}
diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/util.go b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/util.go
index 0d77e7b06..4c6f03a77 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/util.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/util.go
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/imdario/mergo"
 
+	api "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress"
 )
 
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ func newUpstream(name string) *ingress.Backend {
 	return &ingress.Backend{
 		Name:      name,
 		Endpoints: []ingress.Endpoint{},
+		Service:   &api.Service{},
 		SessionAffinity: ingress.SessionAffinityConfig{
 			CookieSessionAffinity: ingress.CookieSessionAffinity{
 				Locations: make(map[string][]string),