diff --git a/photoapp/daemon.py b/photoapp/daemon.py
index af49e49..eed48ce 100644
--- a/photoapp/daemon.py
+++ b/photoapp/daemon.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from photoapp.types import Photo, PhotoSet, Tag, TagItem, PhotoStatus, User
 from photoapp.dbsession import DatabaseSession
 from photoapp.common import pwhash
 from photoapp.api import PhotosApi, LibraryManager
-from photoapp.dbutils import SAEnginePlugin, SATool, db, get_db_engine, driver_statement
+from photoapp.dbutils import SAEnginePlugin, SATool, db, get_db_engine, date_format
 from photoapp.utils import mime2ext, auth, require_auth, photoset_auth_filter, slugify
 from photoapp.storage import uri_to_storage
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ class PhotosWeb(object):
         /stats - show server statistics
         """
         images = photoset_auth_filter(db.query(func.count(PhotoSet.uuid),
-                                               func.strftime('%Y', PhotoSet.date).label('year'),
-                                               func.strftime('%m', PhotoSet.date).label('month'))). \
+                                               date_format('%Y', PhotoSet.date).label('year'),
+                                               date_format('%m', PhotoSet.date).label('month'))). \
             group_by('year', 'month').order_by(desc('year'), desc('month')).all()
         tsize = photoset_auth_filter(db.query(func.sum(Photo.size)).join(PhotoSet)).scalar()  # pragma: manual auth
         yield self.render("monthly.html", images=images, tsize=tsize)
@@ -219,9 +219,6 @@ class DateView(object):
                                      images=[i for i in images], date=dt)
             return
 
-        date_format = driver_statement({"sqlite": lambda date_format, value: func.strftime(date_format, value),
-                                        "mysql": lambda date_format, value: func.date_format(value, date_format)})
-
         images = photoset_auth_filter(db.query(
                                       func.count(PhotoSet.id),
                                       date_format('%Y', PhotoSet.date).label('year'),
diff --git a/photoapp/dbutils.py b/photoapp/dbutils.py
index d96ff95..cd8d497 100644
--- a/photoapp/dbutils.py
+++ b/photoapp/dbutils.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from cherrypy.process import plugins
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
 from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
-
+from sqlalchemy import func
 
 Base = declarative_base()
 
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ def driver_statement(statements):
     raise Exception(f"Statement not supported for driver {driver}")
 
 
+def date_format(date_format, value):
+    stmt = driver_statement({"sqlite": lambda date_format, value: func.strftime(date_format, value),
+                             "mysql": lambda date_format, value: func.date_format(value, date_format)})
+    return stmt(date_format, value)
+
+
 class DbAlias(object):
     """
     This provides a shorter alias for the cherrypy.request.db object, which is a database session created bound to the