diff --git a/git-retag.sh b/git-retag.sh
index e034e3b..4090d91 100755
--- a/git-retag.sh
+++ b/git-retag.sh
@@ -134,7 +134,14 @@ cd $GITFiles/$REPO_NAME
 OLDTAGS=$(git tag --list)
 # delete old tag/s
 for tag in $OLDTAGS ; do
-	git tag --delete $tag
+#	git tag --delete $tag
+# git push origin --delete $tag
+# for some reason the remote delete is rejected, so were using the gitea API call instead
+  if [[ $DEBUG ]] ; then echo "curl $checkSSL $SILENT4CURL -X 'DELETE' '$GITEAHOST/api/v1/orgs/$ORGGITEA/$REPO_NAME/tags/$tag' -H 'accept: application/json' -H 'Authorization: token $GITEAACCESSTOKEN'" ; fi
+	RESPONSE=$(curl "$checkSSL" "$SILENT4CURL" -X 'DELETE' \
+		"$GITEAHOST/api/v1/orgs/$ORGGITEA/$REPO_NAME/tags/$tag" \
+		-H 'accept: application/json'   \
+		-H "Authorization: token $GITEAACCESSTOKEN" ) 
 done
 # Now create the version and release tag from the specfile
 VERSION_RELEASE=`rpm --queryformat '%{version} %{release}\n' --specfile $REPO_NAME.spec`
@@ -143,8 +150,9 @@ RELEASE=${VERSION_RELEASE#* }
 # Release is not reliable - if you run on Rocky it comes back EL8, centos 7  - EL7
 # So, we need to just take the build part (first word)
 TAG=$VERSION"-"${RELEASE%.*}
+git pull
 git tag -a $TAG -m "Setting tag to current Version-Release in spec file: $TAG"
-git push --tags origin $QUIET
+git push origin --tag $TAG $QUIET
 
-echo "Current $ORGGITEA/REPO_NAME tagged as $TAG - old tags removed"
+echo "Current $ORGGITEA/$REPO_NAME tagged as $TAG - old tags removed"
 exit 0