There are those who complain about Sporting charging admission but nobody was complaining at the Victoria Ground after 90 minutes of splendid entertainment. This was an intriguing contrast of styles. Sporting reverted to the 3-5-2 formation familiar from last season and looked to build patiently through the five-man midfield whilst Knowle with a conventional 4-4-2 looked to play a more direct counter attacking game, playing off their quick and strong front two.
Sporting dominated the possession in the first half but it was Knowle who had the better chances. On 10 minutes Biddle's hesitation in coming for a through ball allowed Pryce to poke the ball past him but wide while ten minutes later they had the ball in the net after a rapid counter attack only for the linesman to flag for offside after Pryce touched a ball that was going in anyway.
Sporting's best chance so far came on 25 minutes when Barnes got free down the left and hit a low centre across the six-yard box to Curry who managed to miss from virtually on the line, almost doing a Djimi Traore in reverse. Soon afterwards Griffiths headed just wide from Dan Wilkes' lofted centre. Knowle were always a threat and after Cooksey had committed a clumsy foul on the edge of the area, the free kick rattled the crossbar.
No goals at half time but plenty of entertainment with the added bonus of the referee's theatrical crackdown on bad language, with Duwayne Mardenborough booked and ordered to apologise while the Knowle coach was given an extended and very audible lecture.
Knowle began the second period strongly and took the lead on 49 minutes with, inevitably, a counter attack after Curry's shot had been blocked on the edge of their penalty area. Midfielder Ruck scored with a left foot shot from 12 yards.
Sporting were level within seven minutes. Odane Barnes was played in on the right hand side of the area after Knowle had lost possession in their own half. He held off a challenge to score via the far post. Sporting now enjoyed their best period and pressed Knowle back but without quite being able to work a passage through the massed defence. Hall came on Siviter on 70 minutes but it was midfielders who had, and squandered, the best chances.
After 77 minutes Jamie Rogers dragged a shot wide of the far post before Zac Blood missed with a header from Wilkes' centre. Knowle's counter attacking threat remained and five minutes from the end, Ruck had the opportunity to win the game after a low cross found him in the penalty area with time and space. Perhaps too much time as he was gripped by indecision and the chance was lost. Hall had his moment just before the end, hesitation by the goalkeeper giving him the chance to chip the ball into the empty net. He failed to get enough height and a relieved Knott gathered the ball.
A fine game to which both teams made a full contributions. However Sporting dominated the possession and created more chances so must be disappointed that, again, they dropped points through failing to convert excellent approach play into goals.
Sporting: Grant Biddle, Dan Wilkes, Nick Allen, Neil Cooksey, Richard Griffiths, Joe Brookes, George Curry (Chris Bright 85 mins), Jamie Rogers (Capt), Odane Barnes, Jamie Siviter (Stuart Hall 71 mins), Zac Blood
Subs Not Used: Jon Rogers, Ryan Molesworth, Mark Whitehouse
Knowle: Chris Knott, Paul Farnell Rich Collins 74 mins), James Anderson, Chris Wallis, Stephen Jones, Steven Ruck, Buto Sibanda, Craig Nicholls, Duwayne Mardenborough (Nic Oakley 84 mins), Mykey Pryce, James Cartwright
Subs Not Used: Stephen Lynch, Jason Hall