diff --git a/src/common/dates.py b/src/common/dates.py
index db0a42f6..9d320534 100644
--- a/src/common/dates.py
+++ b/src/common/dates.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ def parse_date(text: str, formats: list[str] = frozenset([
 def parse_month_year_date(text: str, formats: list[str] = frozenset([
     "%B %Y",  # January 2020
     "%b %Y",  # Jan 2020
+    "%Y-%m",  # 2020-01
 ])) -> datetime:
     """Parse a given text representing a partial date using a list of formats,
     adjusting it to the last day of the month.
diff --git a/src/common/releasedata.py b/src/common/releasedata.py
index 91f42553..eec0d667 100644
--- a/src/common/releasedata.py
+++ b/src/common/releasedata.py
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ class ProductRelease:
             else:
                 logging.info(f"set '{field}' in {self} to {new_value}")
 
+    def is_empty(self) -> bool:
+        return len(self.data) == 1  # only the name is set
+
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"{self.product}#{self.name()}"
 
@@ -132,6 +135,13 @@ class ProductData:
         self.updated = True
         return self.releases[release]
 
+    def remove_release(self, release: str) -> None:
+        if release not in self.releases:
+            logging.warning(f"release {release} cannot be removed as it does not exist for {self}")
+            return
+
+        logging.info(f"removing release {release} ({self.releases.pop(release)}) from {self}")
+
     def get_version(self, version: str) -> ProductVersion:
         return self.versions[version] if version in self.versions else None
 
@@ -149,7 +159,7 @@ class ProductData:
             self.declare_version(version, date)
 
     def remove_version(self, version: str) -> None:
-        if not self.get_version(version):
+        if version not in self.versions:
             logging.warning(f"version {version} cannot be removed as it does not exist for {self}")
             return
 
diff --git a/src/release_table.py b/src/release_table.py
index a3460942..8382f12f 100644
--- a/src/release_table.py
+++ b/src/release_table.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class Field:
         if self.name == "releaseCycle":
             return None  # skipping entire rows is allowed
 
-        msg = f"field {self}'s value {raw_value} does not matching any regex in {self.include_version_patterns}"
+        msg = f"field {self}'s value '{raw_value}' does not match any regex in {self.include_version_patterns}"
         raise ValueError(msg)
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
@@ -121,20 +121,25 @@ for config in endoflife.list_configs(p_filter, METHOD, m_filter):
                         logging.info(f"skipping row {cells}: not enough columns")
                         continue
 
-                    raw_release_cycle = cells[fields_index[release_cycle_field.name]]
-                    release_cycle = release_cycle_field.extract_from(raw_release_cycle)
-                    if not release_cycle:
-                        logging.info(f"skipping row {cells}: invalid release cycle '{raw_release_cycle}', "
-                                     f"should match any of {release_cycle_field.include_version_patterns} "
-                                     f"and not match any of {release_cycle_field.exclude_version_patterns}")
+                    raw_release_name = cells[fields_index[release_cycle_field.name]]
+                    release_name = release_cycle_field.extract_from(raw_release_name)
+                    if not release_name:
+                        logging.info(f"skipping row {cells}: invalid release cycle '{raw_release_name}', "
+                                     f"should match one of {release_cycle_field.include_version_patterns} "
+                                     f"and not match all of {release_cycle_field.exclude_version_patterns}")
                         continue
 
-                    release = product_data.get_release(release_cycle)
+                    release = product_data.get_release(release_name)
                     for field in fields:
                         raw_field = cells[fields_index[field.name]]
                         try:
                             release.set_field(field.name, field.extract_from(raw_field))
                         except ValueError as e:
                             logging.info(f"skipping cell {raw_field} for {release}: {e}")
+
+                    if config.data.get("ignore_empty_releases", False) and release.is_empty():
+                        logging.info(f"removing empty release '{release}'")
+                        product_data.remove_release(release_name)
+
             except ValueError as e:
                 logging.info(f"skipping table with headers {headers}: {e}")