diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/HttpMethod.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/HttpMethod.java
index 87173fd381..c38c46fc7b 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/HttpMethod.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/HttpMethod.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public enum HttpMethod {
 	 * @since 4.2.4
 	 */
 	public boolean matches(String method) {
-		return name().equals(method);
+		return (this == resolve(method));
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/FrameworkServlet.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/FrameworkServlet.java
index e3d859fc0a..773b7cf75b 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/FrameworkServlet.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/FrameworkServlet.java
@@ -838,7 +838,8 @@ public abstract class FrameworkServlet extends HttpServletBean implements Applic
 	protected void service(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
 			throws ServletException, IOException {
 
-		if (HttpMethod.PATCH.matches(request.getMethod())) {
+		HttpMethod httpMethod = HttpMethod.resolve(request.getMethod());
+		if (HttpMethod.PATCH == httpMethod || httpMethod == null) {
 			processRequest(request, response);
 		}
 		else {
diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/AbstractController.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/AbstractController.java
index 46fab982b2..fcd27016d4 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/AbstractController.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/AbstractController.java
@@ -94,6 +94,26 @@ public abstract class AbstractController extends WebContentGenerator implements
 	private boolean synchronizeOnSession = false;
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Create a new AbstractController which supports
+	 * HTTP methods GET, HEAD and POST by default.
+	 */
+	public AbstractController() {
+		this(true);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Create a new AbstractController.
+	 * @param restrictDefaultSupportedMethods {@code true} if this
+	 * controller should support HTTP methods GET, HEAD and POST by default,
+	 * or {@code false} if it should be unrestricted
+	 * @since 4.3
+	 */
+	public AbstractController(boolean restrictDefaultSupportedMethods) {
+		super(restrictDefaultSupportedMethods);
+	}
+
+
 	/**
 	 * Set if controller execution should be synchronized on the session,
 	 * to serialize parallel invocations from the same client.
diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletForwardingController.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletForwardingController.java
index 50cf151bff..3df9b642a3 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletForwardingController.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletForwardingController.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ public class ServletForwardingController extends AbstractController implements B
 	private String beanName;
 
 
+	public ServletForwardingController() {
+		super(false);
+	}
+
+
 	/**
 	 * Set the name of the servlet to forward to,
 	 * i.e. the "servlet-name" of the target servlet in web.xml.
diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletWrappingController.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletWrappingController.java
index 8ca0ef0a29..2c353e0e32 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletWrappingController.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/mvc/ServletWrappingController.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ public class ServletWrappingController extends AbstractController
 	private Servlet servletInstance;
 
 
+	public ServletWrappingController() {
+		super(false);
+	}
+
+
 	/**
 	 * Set the class of the servlet to wrap.
 	 * Needs to implement {@code javax.servlet.Servlet}.