Kenny Dougall earns first international cap for Australia just days after scoring the goals that secured Blackpool's promotion to the Championship

Just four days on from scoring the goals that promoted Blackpool to the Championship, Kenny Dougall earned his first international cap.
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It’s been the perfect week for the Australian who scored both goals at Wembley on Sunday during Blackpool’s 2-1 win over Lincoln City in the League One play-off final.

The 28-year-old couldn’t celebrate for too long though, as he immediately jetted off to Kuwait on Monday to link up with his international teammates.

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While Dougall didn’t start in Australia’s World Cup qualifying 3-0 victory over Kuwait, he came off the bench in the 64th minute to feature for the Socceroos for the first time.

Dougall becomes the 50th player to earn an international cap while playing for the Seasiders.

The first player to do so was Fred Griffiths, for Wales, in 1900.

Dougall becomes the second Blackpool player to represent Australia after David Carney was capped during the 2010/11 season.

Dougall was Blackpool's hero at Wembley on SundayDougall was Blackpool's hero at Wembley on Sunday
Dougall was Blackpool's hero at Wembley on Sunday
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While the former Barnsley man had previously represented his country at youth level and had been part of international camps, this was his first senior cap.

Dougall will be hoping to add further caps in the coming days, with Australia taking on Chinese Taipei (June 7), Nepal (June 11) and Jordan (June 15).

The Socceroos have now won all five of their World Cup qualifiers and look certain to reach next year’s competition in Qatar.

Elsewhere, Dan Ballard picked up his eighth international cap as he played all 90 minutes of Northern Ireland’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Ukraine.

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The 21-year-old, who now returns to Arsenal following the end of his loan spell at Bloomfield Road, linked up with Ian Baraclough’s squad on Monday.

It meant the defender missed Northern Ireland’s 3-0 friendly win over Malta on Sunday, having been part of the Blackpool side to win at Wembley.

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