Kenny Dougall would love to meet dog named after him by Blackpool owner Simon Sadler

Sadler revealed in his annual New Year’s Eve message that he bought a new pooch to celebrate the club’s play-off final victory last season.

Given Dougall was the hero on that occasion at Wembley, scoring both of Blackpool’s goals in their 2-1 win against Lincoln City, Sadler had no option but to name his pet “Kenny”.

Dougall joked that he was honoured that Sadler decided to name the pug in tribute to him.

“What do you say? It’s great to have something named after you,” he told The Gazette.

“I haven’t met the dog yet but hopefully I will one day.”

Dougall was speaking after starring in Saturday’s 4-1 win against Reading, where he set up two of Blackpool’s goals.

It was the midfielder’s second time in four games that he had bagged two assists.

The Seasiders, who take on Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday, had to come from behind to claim the victory, which was their first in five.

Marvin Ekpiteta levelled to make it 1-1 at half-time, before goals from Gary Madine, Shayne Lavery and Josh Bowler made sure of the three points.

“The manager told us at half-time we had to get a result out of it, we had to find a way,” Dougall revealed.

“We’re all men and we’re all good enough to win games, even when it’s not pretty.

“The pitch is not at its best but you’ve got to find a way to win and that was the message from the gaffer.

“In midfield we were up against players like Danny Drinkwater, who is a Premier League winner, so that’s not easy.

“There are some tough midfielders in this division and me and Kevin (Stewart) had to really fight this week and do the dirty stuff you don’t often see.

“We’ve turned a sometimes ugly game into three points, so it’s happy days.”

The Bloomfield Road surface has deteriorated noticeably in the past few weeks, making passing football extremely difficult.

The Seasiders opted to mix things up at times last week, sometimes going long into Madine and at other times playing their normal, attractive game.

“I don’t know what it looks like from the sidelines but it’s tough, it’s heavy on the legs and it takes its toll on you,” Dougall added.

“It sometimes makes simple things look hard which might sound like an excuse, and maybe it is, but like the gaffer says we’ve just got to find ways to win the match and we managed to do that.”

Tomorrow Blackpool take on a Stoke side that sit one point and one position below them in the Championship table, having played a game fewer.

Michael O’Neill’s side were involved in the play-off hunt at one point in the season, but their form has tailed off in recent weeks with no wins in four, a run that includes back-to-back defeats.

Stoke were in action in midweek, losing 2-1 to Premier League side Crystal Palace in the fifth round of the FA Cup.