John Higgins admits he is seriously considering retiring from snooker after labelling himself “garbage” following his second-round exit at the UK Championship.

The 43-year-old, who reached the final of the World Snooker Championship earlier this year, was beaten 6-5 by fellow Scot Alan McManus at the York Barbican.

Higgins trailed McManus 3-1 before fighting back to lead 5-3, but he failed to make a single break over 50 and lost three successive frames as he was dumped out of the tournament.

And after the four-time world champion said the fact he “couldn’t care less” about the loss was “a big worry”, he revealed that his 26-year professional career could be coming to an end.

“When you watch guys like Neil Robertson and that on the next table knocking in centuries and I’m fudging about doing 30s, I’m just garbage, garbage,” he said.

“I know I said it here last year, maybe I was papering over the cracks getting the final of the worlds, but I really do feel I’m near the end of my time with this game.

“I will have a good think at the end of this season because I'm not going to put myself through this.

“The way I'm feeling, not putting in any effort into the game, and you know you're not going to get anywhere doing that, so it's going to be a big six months.”

Watch the Snooker UK Championship LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds