Darren O'Dea, Brian Howard and Shaun Cummings all started and Grzegorz Rasiak came on as a second-half substitute, twice going close to scoring for the Royals
Both sides tried to play open and attractive football but in the end it was a lack of firepower from both - and some fines saves by Doncaster's Neil Sullivan - that kept the scoresheet blank.
Reading just had the edge in possession early on and midway through the first half Doncaster keeper Sullivan was in action after saving well from Gylfi Sigurdsson's thunderbolt
Then Doncaster survived a real fright. From fully 32 yards, debutant Brian Howard chipped an effort over Sullivan's head only to see it dip late and land on the crossbar before bouncing to safety.
Eight minutes before the break Doncaster came close to taking the lead. They won a free-kick on the right but Martin Woods was booked by Mr.Gibbs for taking it too soon.
When Woods re-took the kick, he swung it into the Reading area where it rebounded off Cummings and forced keeper Adam Federici to make a superb save to prevent an own goal.
Late in the half, Mr Gibbs was in action again, booking Woods for a foul on Howard. There were also bookings for Doncaster's Brian Stock and James Chambers.
On the hour Reading manager Brendan Rodgers made two substitutions and one of them almost brought sensational results.
Striker Rasiak came on in and his first touch was to draw a save from Sullivan with a powerful header from Howard's corner.
Moments later, and with only his second touch, he drew a brilliant full-length save from Sullivan who turned his powerful drive round the post.
In the final quarter of the game Reading threatened to overwhelm Doncaster after forcing a succession of corners, but they could not find a way past Sullivan.