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Tommy Warrilow admits Ashford must learn from their pre-season humbling at the hands of Folkestone.
United were 5-0 down at half-time on Saturday and went on to lose 7-2 at Homelands.
Results of the friendlies may be inconsequential but there were elements of the performance which can't be ignored.
Warrilow said: "It's not a scoreline you want to see but in the first 20 minutes we were very good.
"In the second half we got two goals but with a new side, we left ourselves vulnerable and got punished. I was disappointed with the goals but you learn more about them when things are going wrong.
"I didn't think we had any organisation skills out there when things were going wrong.
"We started well, let a poor goal in from our corner, tried to play offside and then gave away a penalty so all of a sudden, we're 3-0 down.
"It was a good exercise because we took a bit of a slap and it's happened before. We'll be fine.
"We've still got two weeks to go and we'll be in this week working on our shape. To be fair to the lads, we haven't really done that.
"We've done it once on a field whereas now we're going back into Tuesday-Thursday training, concentrating on our shape and I'm sure we'll learn from our mistakes."
Ashford's defensive options have been boosted by the return of Mo Kamara, who finished last season with the Nuts & Bolts.
Warrilow said: "It's good to get Mo back and he slotted straight into the back four.
"But the whole team has to defend better and we've got to keep the ball. We gave the ball away so cheaply at times against a good side, which Folkestone are, and we got punished.
"We had no Jay May and no Jerald Aboagye but they'll be back in on Saturday so going into the last fortnight we shouldn't have any disruptions."
Dave Smith is still struggling with a hamstring problem but Zak Henry came through 30 minutes unscathed on Saturday as he recovers from a knee injury.
Meanwhile, United have also signed forwards Ramell Lake and Levi Gold and defender Theo Osinfolarin after successful trials.
Warrilow said: "I've started getting phone calls already but the boys have done OK, irrespective of Saturday. We just need to get them more organised and give them a chance.
"I'm not saying it's the finished article but the reality is that after four to six weeks, there will be some movement all around the football clubs.
"I'm more than happy with what I've got and the main thing is we learn from Saturday and make sure we don't get caught as frequently as we did last week."
