diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/BaseOpenApiReference.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/BaseOpenApiReference.cs
index 86377b8b2..675031fde 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/BaseOpenApiReference.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/BaseOpenApiReference.cs
@@ -300,7 +300,11 @@ protected virtual void SetAdditional31MetadataFromMapNode(JsonObject jsonObject)
         internal void SetJsonPointerPath(string pointer, string nodeLocation)
         {
             // Relative reference to internal JSON schema node/resource (e.g. "#/properties/b")
-            if (pointer.StartsWith("#/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) && !pointer.Contains("/components/schemas"))
+#if NETSTANDARD2_1 || NETCOREAPP2_1_OR_GREATER || NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+            if (pointer.StartsWith("#/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) && !pointer.Contains("/components/schemas", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+#else
+            if (pointer.StartsWith("#/", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) && !pointer.ToLowerInvariant().Contains("/components/schemas"))
+#endif
             {
                 ReferenceV3 = ResolveRelativePointer(nodeLocation, pointer);
             }
@@ -316,23 +320,28 @@ internal void SetJsonPointerPath(string pointer, string nodeLocation)
         private static string ResolveRelativePointer(string nodeLocation, string relativeRef)
         {
             // Convert nodeLocation to path segments
-            var segments = nodeLocation.TrimStart('#').Split(['/'], StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries).ToList();
+            var nodeLocationSegments = nodeLocation.TrimStart('#').Split(['/'], StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries).ToList();
 
             // Convert relativeRef to dynamic segments
             var relativeSegments = relativeRef.TrimStart('#').Split(['/'], StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
 
             // Locate the first occurrence of relativeRef segments in the full path
-            for (int i = 0; i <= segments.Count - relativeSegments.Length; i++)
+            for (int i = 0; i <= nodeLocationSegments.Count - relativeSegments.Length; i++)
             {
-                if (relativeSegments.SequenceEqual(segments.Skip(i).Take(relativeSegments.Length)))
+                if (relativeSegments.SequenceEqual(nodeLocationSegments.Skip(i).Take(relativeSegments.Length), StringComparer.Ordinal) &&
+                    nodeLocationSegments.Take(i + relativeSegments.Length).ToArray() is {Length: > 0} matchingSegments)
                 {
                     // Trim to include just the matching segment chain
-                    segments = [.. segments.Take(i + relativeSegments.Length)];
-                    break;
+                    return $"#/{string.Join("/", matchingSegments)}";
                 }
             }
 
-            return $"#/{string.Join("/", segments)}";
+            // Fallback on building a full path
+#if NETSTANDARD2_1 || NETCOREAPP2_1_OR_GREATER || NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+            return $"#/{string.Join("/", nodeLocationSegments.SkipLast(relativeSegments.Length).Union(relativeSegments))}";
+#else
+            return $"#/{string.Join("/", nodeLocationSegments.Take(nodeLocationSegments.Count - relativeSegments.Length).Union(relativeSegments))}";
+#endif
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/ReferenceSamples/relativeSubschemaReference.json b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/ReferenceSamples/relativeSubschemaReference.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6883dd5a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/ReferenceSamples/relativeSubschemaReference.json
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+{
+    "openapi": "3.1.0",
+    "info": {
+        "title": "Relative reference in a subschema of an component schema",
+        "version": "1.0.0"
+    },
+    "paths": {
+        "/items": {
+            "get": {
+                "responses": {
+                    "200": {
+                        "description": "ok",
+                        "content": {
+                            "application/json": {
+                                "schema": {
+                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Foo"
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    },
+    "components": {
+        "schemas": {
+            "Foo": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                    "seq1": {
+                        "type": [
+                            "array",
+                            "null"
+                        ],
+                        "items": {
+                            "type": "array",
+                            "items": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "format": null,
+                                "x-schema-id": null
+                            }
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "seq2": {
+                        "type": [
+                            "array",
+                            "null"
+                        ],
+                        "items": {
+                            "$ref": "#/properties/seq1/items"
+                        }
+                    }
+                },
+                "x-schema-id": "ContainerType"
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/RelativeReferenceTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/RelativeReferenceTests.cs
index c64b9594f..455904ce8 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/RelativeReferenceTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/V31Tests/RelativeReferenceTests.cs
@@ -279,5 +279,22 @@ public void ResolveSubSchema_ShouldRecurseIntoAllOfComposition()
             Assert.NotNull(result);
             Assert.Equal(JsonSchemaType.Integer, result!.Type);
         }
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task SHouldResolveRelativeSubReference()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var filePath = Path.Combine(SampleFolderPath, "relativeSubschemaReference.json");
+
+            // Act
+            var (actual, _) = await OpenApiDocument.LoadAsync(filePath, SettingsFixture.ReaderSettings);
+
+            var fooComponentSchema = actual.Components.Schemas["Foo"];
+            var seq1Property = fooComponentSchema.Properties["seq1"];
+            Assert.NotNull(seq1Property);
+            var seq2Property = fooComponentSchema.Properties["seq2"];
+            Assert.NotNull(seq2Property);
+            Assert.Equal(JsonSchemaType.Array, seq2Property.Items.Type);
+            Assert.Equal(JsonSchemaType.String, seq2Property.Items.Items.Type);
+        }
     }
 }