He headed Clyde into the lead then slotted home a rebound for the second before Andy Smith's head put them on the road to a convincing victory.

Keogh turned provider as Smith's diving header made it 4-0 before the hat-trick was completed by a low drilled shot.

Chris Templeman struck back from the spot before driving in his own second.

By then, Clyde had started to hear the bad news from Caledonian Stadium.

St Johnstone had at one stage been drawing 1-1, a result that would have allowed the Bully Wee promotion, but slumped to a 3-1 defeat.

Clyde had squandered a 10-point lead in the title race, the crucial game coming a week earlier, when Caley Thistle had won 2-1 at the Cumbernauld club's Broadwood Stadium.

Brechin: Budinauckas, McLeish, Dowie, White, Black, King, Johnson, Winter, Gibson, Templeman, Hampshire.
Subs: Deas, McCulloch, Mitchell, Boylan, Hay.

Clyde: Halliwell, McCluskey, Fotheringham, McLaughlin, McCann, McConalogue, Ross, Marshall, Keogh, Andy Smith, Gibson.
Subs: Harty, Hagen, Gilhaney, Doyle, Morrison.