Gary Alexander has demanded a response from his Ashford players on the back of a three-match losing run.

United were beaten 3-1 by league leaders Cray on Saturday before crashing 4-0 at Folkestone in the League Cup on Tuesday.

Those defeats followed a 1-0 reverse at Whitstable and Alexander isn't happy.

Ashford have played well in spells but their failure to maintain standards across 90 minutes has irked the manager.

Alexander said: "We went two down at Folkestone and then folded, which is unacceptable.

"We had that chat in the dressing-room after the game.

"I've seen, in the second half against Cray and the first half against Folkestone, what we're about.

"If we can put that into a 90-minute performance, somebody will be on the end of a whacking.

"It's about how we respond now. We're working out how we can make things better.

"We've chatted about what we can do with the personnel we've got but we know we've got quality in there."

Ashford will have played four games in 11 days by the time they've visited Haywards Heath on Saturday and hosted Sittingbourne on Tuesday.

Alexander would like to rotate his squad to keep players fresh but simply doesn't feel he has the strength in depth to do it.

He said: "It's a difficult one because we've got a few youngsters with bright futures but are they ready to start in this league? I'm not sure.

"If we could be stronger within the squad, I'd like that but we can't do that because we have to work within our means.

"I've got some quality youngsters but this is a tough league with some experienced players. Is it fair to chuck them in when we're on a bad run?"

Ashford will be without Luis Morrison for "a substantial time" after the defender pulled a quad muscle during the warm-up on Saturday.

Meanwhile, striker Stefan Cox is now serving a three-match ban for the red card he was shown during the Cray defeat.

Cox was dismissed for an incident off the ball with Ashford 2-1 down and pressing for an equaliser.

"It was stupid and he's apologised," said Alexander. "Stefan has been known to react and it's something we'll work on with him because he's a quality footballer.

"He was probably the best player on the park at the time and causing a lot of problems.

"He let himself and the lads down but he's been man enough to apologise and we hope it doesn't happen again."