[NTG-context] \reference[mark]{(\the\equationnumber)}

Hi all, in a former paper I used \newcount\equationnumber \equationnumber=0 \def\eq{\advance\equationnumber by 1}%Formelzähler erhöhen \starttext \eq\reference[a]{(\the\equationnumber)} $$a\eqno(\the\equationnumber)$$%an equation \eq\reference[b]{(\the\equationnumber)} $$b\eqno(\the\equationnumber)$$%another equation Eq. \ref[t][a] and \ref[t][b] are only simple characters, because this is a test. \stoptext with the Context version 2003.9.17 this doesn't work: Only the largest Equationnumber appears as reference text, and in the *.tui and *.tuo-file is written "\the \equationnumber" instead of the value of \the\equationnumber. Would it be able to revive this mechanism? With many thanks for any hint, Albrecht